Get Your Science On: Pressure Cooker
This week, Mayon shows us how to build a neat little experiment which show some of the physical properties of gasses in a way you can really feel!
What’s Going On:
When you cover the hole, the air compressor adds more molecules of air to the bottle, increasing the pressure. Adding more molecules to the high pressure bottle takes energy (work), and this increases the temperature!
Materials:
- Air Compressor
- 2-liter bottle
- Schrader Valves and pulling tool (or some other way to attach the hose)
- Color changing liquid crystal strip (optional)
How to Build
You need to attach the 2-liter bottle to the air compressor. We did this by drilling a hole in the cap and adding Schrader Valve, which we got from a tire store. We added a second Schrader Valve to the bottom of the bottle, but removed the valve core so that air could escape the bottom. Then we attached a hose to the bottom valve. We attached the valve on the bottle cap to the air compressor, and added a strip of thermal liquid crystal paper to show the temperature changes.
