Sehoon's+Imploding+Can+Lab

Sehoon Joo Mr. Panych Physics 9 9 April 2007

Imploding Cans and Their Relationship between the Original Volume and the Volume after the Implosion

Hypothesis: My hypothesis is that a can with a larger volume of water in it will have a lesser implosion compared to a can with a smaller volume of water, which will have a bigger implosion. In this particular case, a lesser or bigger implosion is pointing at how much water can fit inside the can after the implosion. A lesser implosion would have little difference with the original amount of water that is supposed to fit in the can.

Variables:
 * Manipulated Variable:** Amount of water in the can.
 * Responding Variable:** Amount of water that fits into the can after the implosion.

Materials: l 6 pop cans *extra cans should be available at all times* l 2 10 mL graduated cylinders l 1 bucket to contain ice water l 1 bunsen burner l 1 tripod l 1 gauze without a white mat l Matches l 1 metal tong l 1 digital stop watch l 1 thermometer

Procedures: 1. Mark your cans with numbers that matches the amount of water being put into it. 2. Use a graduated cylinder and fill the cans up with the correct amount of water. 3. Place the can on top of the tripod and the gauze with a lighted Bunsen burner underneath it. 4. Watch the opening of the can carefully and at the first sign of steam coming out of the can start your stop watch. (Hint: The steam comes closely after the can starts boiling. The can will jiggle and vibrate if it is boiling.) 5. After ten seconds passes on the watch, insert the can quickly in to the bucket of ice water that has its temperature carefully controlled. The temperature can be set at any desired temperature. However, in this experiment the temperature was set at 10°C. 6. Pour out all the water in the can and fill it up again to the top with water to make sure there are no holes formed after the implosion. 7. If there are no holes, pour the water into the graduated cylinders. 8. Record your data and repeat the process until the desired amount of data is collected.

Table: Change in volume of water in the imploded can in relation to the volume of water put in before the implosion Amount of Water (±1 mL) Volume (±1cm³) 20 86 40 178 60 124 80 172 100 185 120 186

Graph: Only available as hard copy

Conclusion: Through our experiment, we were able to determine why the can implodes and why the can with more water inside had a lesser implosion. Before my explanation of why the can with more water inside had a lesser implosion, I will explain why there is an implosion in the first place. As the can is heated over the fire for a period of time, the evaporation from the water fill up the can and the evaporation, since it’s a gas, take up more space than the liquid because of its molecular position. The evaporated water molecules continuously hit the inner wall of the can and exert a great deal of pressure. However, when the can is submerged inside the bucket of water, the gas quickly condenses due to temperature differences and suddenly it reduces the number of gas molecules in the can. This results in an implosion. However, if a can has a large amount of water in it, there is less wall space for the water molecules to hit and overall, does not have much empty space left for the can to implode. Therefore, a can with a larger volume of water in it, will have a lesser implosion than cans with a smaller volume of water in it.