Optimum Climates Kids Corner: Temperature and Pressure

Welcome to the Optimum Climates Kids Corner! Our way to reach out and teach kids some of the basic principles of Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, school may look a little different for all of us this year, but we can still have fun while learning from home. Learn about states of matter, pressure, and temperature with the Balloon in a Bottle experiment. (Please note, this experiment should be supervised by an adult)

Step 1)

Gather your supplies

Glass bottle with a narrow neck

1 Tablespoon of Water

Balloon

Oven mitts

STEP 2) Pour 1 Tablespoon of water into the bottle.

STEP 3) Have an adult place the bottle in the microwave for approximately 1 minute, or long enough for the water to boil. If your bottle is too tall to fit in the microwave, you can boil water in a separate container and pour approximately 1 tablespoon of boiling water into the bottle.

STEP 4)

Have an adult handle the now very hot bottle and quickly stretch the mouth of a balloon over the top of the bottle.

STEP 5)

OBSERVE!

Watch the steam in the bottle condensing to form water droplets on the insides of the glass. Within 30 seconds or so the balloon should start to move by itself. The balloon will slowly by pulled into the bottle until inverted completely!

What did we learn?

When the water inside the bottle boils it changes from a liquid to a gas (steam) and pushes air out of the bottle. As it cools, with the balloon stretched over the mouth of the bottle, the steam condenses and turns back into liquid water. This creates a difference in pressure between the inside and outside of the bottle. the pressure on the outside of the bottle is higher and wants to equalize therefore pushing the balloon in. The more the bottle cools, the more air is pushed from the outside, thus expanding inverted inside the bottle.

These basic principles of temperature change and pressure are all a part of how your HVAC system works. To keep it working properly, call Optimates Climates today to schedule your fall clean-and-check annual maintenance.