Hooked on Science: How Santa gets down the chimney

It's the time of the year when Santa brings gifts to children all over the world. He recently revealed the science he uses to get down the chimney. Here's a model of how it works. Adult supervision is recommended.

Materials

* Hard-boiled egg (to represent Santa)

* Jar with a two-inch-diameter round neck (to represent the chimney)

* Matches

Instructions

STEP 1: Ignite two matches and immediately place the matches into the jar or chimney.

STEP 2: Quickly put the egg on the opening of the jar and watch how Santa goes down.

Explanation

When the flames inside the bottle extinguish due to the lack of oxygen, the gas inside the jar cools. This cooling causes the pressure inside the jar to become lower than the pressure outside the jar. The higher pressure outside the jar pushes the egg into the jar or down the "chimney." Since Santa has fireproof clothes and boots, he can then safely place gifts under the tree. 

Jason Lindsey is a science outreach educator with Hooked on Science. Check out his website www.hookedonscience.org for webcasts and experiments that might get you hooked on science. Send him your science questions at jlindseyhookedonscience.com. More science experiments can be found at www.semissourian.com.