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Impossible puff Bernoulli ping pong experiment - Fizzics Education

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The impossible puff

The impossible puff

Follow FizzicsEd 150 Science Experiments:

You will need:

  • One Ping Pong ball
  • One funnel

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Impossible puff experiment - materials needed
1 Impossible puff experiment - blowing up through the bottom of the funnel

Place the ball into the funnel. Blow through the funnel spout.

Can you get the ball to come out? Is there another way of blowing the ball out of the funnel?

2 Impossible puff experiment - blowing across the top of the funnel

Try blowing across the top of the funnel. This will work, but why?

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4 Teacher showing how to do an experiment outside to a group of kids.

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– Help students learn how science really works

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5 A man holding a soda can with tongs and a bunsen burner heating the can base

Get the Unit of Work on Pressure here!

  • Want to dive into air pressure?
  • It’s all about air pressure in many ways!

From how storms form to how planes fly, this unit covers many concepts about air pressure.

Includes cross-curricular teaching ideas, student quizzes, a sample marking rubric, scope & sequences & more

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Why Does This Happen

Things move from high to low-pressure areas. The lower the pressure, the stronger the action. Think of a tornado – they have very low pressure in the middle of their funnel!

The mathematician Bernoulli found that moving air has less pressure than air that is still. The curved surface of the ball made the air travel faster below the ball than the still air above the ball. The moving air below the ball had less pressure, which sucked the ball into the funnel. The same idea can be applied to vortex smoke rings too!

Variables to test

  • Does it make a difference with the size of the funnel?
  • Can you do this with a heavier ball?
  • What if you use a cube shape instead of a ball?

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Learn more!

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