Hooked on Science: Rejected paper

It's harder than you may think to blow a crumpled piece of paper into an empty plastic bottle.

Materials

* Plastic bottle

* Small piece of paper

Instructions

n STEP 1: Crumple the small piece of paper so it will easily go into and out of the plastic bottle.

* STEP 2: Hold the plastic bottle horizontally and place the crumpled piece of paper inside the opening.

* STEP 3: Blow into the opening of the plastic bottle.

Explanation

The plastic bottle is full of air. The air you blow into the bottle forces the air already inside the bottle out. As this happens, the crumpled piece of paper blows out of the opening.

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.