2006-09-25 18:32:07 · 11 answers · asked by sai 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Light a match. Won't light? No air.
2006-09-25 18:35:28 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
There is an episode in the Cosmos series about the first Greek [sorry I forget exactly which episode in the series and who the Greek was--and I have loaned my book Cosmos to a friend who hasn't returned it yet.] who figured there must be something somewhat invisible that fills the atmosphere of our planet. He takes a "water thief" -- this is a brass or maybe copper item with a long hollow tube open at one end and that has the other end connected to a hollow sphere, the sphere has holes punched into the bottom of it-- he then places his finger over the hole at the end of the tube and plunges the sphere into a bucket of water. Well, no water will come into the holes of the sphere until he removes his finger from the hole in the end of the tube. Why not? There must be something already inside the sphere part preventing the water from coming in. But, when one looks down the tube, there's "nothing" inside. Furthermore, when one plunged the sphere into the bucket of water without covering the hole at the end of the tube, thus allowing the sphere to fill with water and then covered the hole at end of tube, the water would stay in the sphere when it was taken out of water. There would be some dripping, but only when one's finger was now removed from the hole would the water flow out of the sphere. Something must've been keeping the water from free flowing out. This something was obviously air and was found to exert pressure. Anything that can exert pressure must be something, not nothing.
Another way to show that air exists in a system is to see if that air will move. Put a fan in the system and see if it can make "wind".
2006-09-25 21:52:26 · answer #2 · answered by quntmphys238 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, there are two things that you can do.
1) Take a transparent plastic balloon (uninflated).
Blow air into it. You can visibly see that the balloon is filled
with AIR and that it occupies space. Otherwise the balloon
would not have expanded.
2) Take a glass beaker or bottle (transparent). Then dip it upside
down into a trough of water u can see that no water gets into
the beaker no matter how deep you push it. This is because
air is occupying the space and preventing water from taking its
place.
2006-09-25 20:08:46 · answer #3 · answered by kevin 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You can break a yardstick with air. Place a yardstick on a table with about 1/3 of it hanging off the table's edge. Now unfold a single sheet of newspaper and place it on top of the yardstick.
There is air all above that paper that presses down upon it. If you press down slowly on the yardstick portion hanging over the edge, it will slowly raise the paper. However, if you instead slam your hand down quickly upon that 1/3 hanging over, the air above the paper doesn't have time to move away. The yardstick will even break if you hit it fast enough.
It is not the newspaper that holds the yardstick down, it is the column of air above the paper. This weighs about 14 pounds per square inch at sea level. For an unfolded sheet of newspaper 22 inches x 34 inches, that is a total of around 10,500 lbs.
If that sounds impossible, give it a try.
2006-09-25 18:42:08 · answer #4 · answered by Greg__D 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
1. Use a bicycle-pump to prove presence of air in open space.
Pull the piston of the pump and the air in the open space is filled in the pump.
Then push the piston hard & quick forward pointing the opening of pump towards a piece of paper... you will find that the air released by the pump rattles the paper.
2. Do inhale air from open space and blow out from mouth whistling or flying a feather with it
2006-09-25 18:54:05 · answer #5 · answered by Harish Jharia 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If by Air you mean all the different gasses in the atmosphere I agree with the other guy.. light a match.. but if you are trying to get a Vacuum thats a different story and takes a lot more than a simple experimtent.
2006-09-25 18:40:22 · answer #6 · answered by masterdj2006 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
nice ideas.
-make a paper aeroplane. i do not know the exact term in engish
if it flies there is air present.
-sound was a nice one
wet your hand and start spinning around. if you get this "cold" feeling then air exsists.
-turn on a fan
2006-09-25 21:40:57 · answer #7 · answered by Emmanuel P 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sounds travel via air! Hear me?
2006-09-25 18:34:19 · answer #8 · answered by Brian 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Blow a balloon when it expands it take up space as you see it getting bigger.
2006-09-27 05:23:29 · answer #9 · answered by dwarf 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
fire,water and sound,all need air to work.fire need oxygen,water need dust to create droplets,sound vibrate through our atmosphere.
2006-09-25 18:41:07 · answer #10 · answered by J.J 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋