Balanced and Unbalanced Forces Activity Crushing Cans

This lab will “WOW” kids, it’s one of those activities that astonishes the students and really helps them understand the properties of the atmosphere, air pressure, how to calculate pressure and how air pressure changes with elevation. You could easily relate this lab to weather as well. I’ve included a PREZI for note taking/Direct Instruction and a fun VSauce YouTube clip that will engage the students and help them with the reasons why the can crushed so violently.

In order to do this lab you will need a heat source like an alcohol burner or an electric hot plate, a stand for the can to sit on if you don’t have a hot plate, tongs to pick up the hot can, an empty soda can (I have the students bring that in), a small bucket to place the can in after it’s heated and water.

Some tips:

-This is a great YouTube clip to give you an idea of how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT3PJ0RY4oY

-Make sure students wear goggles and be very aware of the flame at all times.

-They only need to put about 10mls or a tablespoon of water in the empty can.

-It takes several minutes minimum to heat the water in the can before they flip it into the water.

NGSS Standards:

PS2.A:  Forces and Motion

For any pair of interacting objects, the force exerted by the first object on the second object is equal in strength to the force that the second object exerts on the first, but in the opposite direction (Newton’s third law). (MS-PS2-1)

All positions of objects and the directions of forces and motions must be described in an arbitrarily chosen reference frame and arbitrarily chosen units of size. In order to share information with other people, these choices must also be shared. (MS-PS2-2)

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Try out some other Williams’ Hands on Science labs and activities that would go perfectly with this lab:

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