air pressure
milhayser | January 28, 2015When it was reported that many of the footballs in the AFC Championship game were inflated below the required minimum pressure, the triumphant New England Patriots were accused of cheating. Looking for an explanation, Chad Orzel whipped out some footballs, a freezer, and the Ideal Gas Law to do some delving. Physically, air pressure depends on the volume of a gas, the number of molecules contained therein, and temperature. Since the volume of a football (versus a balloon) doesn't change much depending on how much air is inside, a change in temperature was the best chance for an innocent…
grrlscientist | February 11, 2008tags: Egg in a bottle, air pressure, streaming video
This is an amusing video demonstration of how to get an egg into a bottle (and then, how to get it out again) without breaking anything -- neither the egg, nor the bottle, nor anything in your parents' kitchen [2:18]