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FeaturesFebruary 20, 2014

Do playing cards have muscles? Using your breath and a few other materials from around the house you can increase the strength of your playing cards. STEP 1: Push the thumbtack through the center of the playing card. STEP 2: Hold the playing card against the bottom of the spool, so the thumbtack is sticking into the hole in the bottom of the spool...

Do playing cards have muscles? Using your breath and a few other materials from around the house you can increase the strength of your playing cards.

Materials

* Spool

* Playing card

* Thumbtack

Instructions

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STEP 1: Push the thumbtack through the center of the playing card.

STEP 2: Hold the playing card against the bottom of the spool, so the thumbtack is sticking into the hole in the bottom of the spool.

STEP 3: Holding the playing card against the bottom of the spool, strongly blow through the hole in the top of the spool, and observe.

Explanation

As you strongly blow through the top of the spool, a low pressure forms between the spool and the playing card. The higher air pressure on the other side of the card pushes on the card and keeps the card from falling.

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.

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