Why does the can crush?

Why did the can do that?

​Purpose of today

• ​Today we're going to observe something weird that happens when you manipulate temperature, pressure, and volume.

• ​Our goal is to explain why it happened.

• ​To do this, we'll need to ask interesting questions, plan an investigation, and try to make a model that explains the relationship between a gas's temperature, pressure, and volume.

​A few key terms

​Temperature: The amount of thermal energy something has

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​Pressure: The amount of force something exhibits over a certain area

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​Volume: How much space something takes up

​Procedure

• ​fill a can with a little bit of water (1-2 tablespoons)

• ​Boil the water

• ​Flip the can over into a bowl of ice water

• ​Observe what happens next

Open Ended

What do you think will happen to the can?

Poll

Why do you think the can collapsed?

• I think the can was pushed in by the air outside.

• I think the can got sucked in by the water vapor inside.

• I think that the water vapor shrunk, and that made the can shrink, too.

• I think the hot and cold water mixed violently, and that made the can collapse.

• I think something else.

Open Ended

What questions do we need to ask in order to explain this?

I'll add my own to the board below.

​Brainstorm session

​What could we do to answer these questions?

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​I'll write your ideas on the board and keep them in mind for tomorrow.

​Speaking of tomorrow...

• ​Tomorrow we're going to attempt to answer some of these questions using the ideas you came up with (along with some of my own).

• ​Not all the ideas are gonna make it (sorry guys).

• ​Not all of the questions will be answered right away.

For now...

​Find two other people who had a similar explanation and make your way to a whiteboard.

• On the whiteboard, have one person DRAW what happened to the can.

• ​Have another person WRITE it out.

• ​Have a third person ready to present it to ME.

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• ​NOTE: try to answer "Why," not "What."