Would placing a can on a bunsen burner for a short amount of time (to boil water in it), melt the can?

Question

Im doing this project:
http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~croft/cancrsh.htm
http://demoroom.physics.ncsu.edu/html/demos/283.html

Will placing the can on the bunsen burner to boil the water, melt the can?

Answer 1

Hi:

The answer is no as long as their is water in the can because the water will draw the heat away from the can Until it boiled away then the can will start to melt. because water will keep it from reaching it melting temperature however the edges will be hot
if the same reason why a paper cup won't burn as long as it
is full of water:l because the paper 's ingition temperature { 400 to 800 degrees F } is higher than the boiling point of water (212 degrees F)

Hope this helps

Answer 2

The melting point of aluminum is 660.32 °C. You only need to heat it to 100 C to make the water boil.

Answer 3

I've done the soda can lab for the last several years without melting any cans.

Answer 4

you aren't melting the can, you are just boiling the water inside of it, when you place the can in cool water at the end of the experiment, the steam inside of the can condenses and air pressure ouside of the can crushes it, the can isn't being melted, it's being crushed by atmospheric pressure

Answer 5

no....not enough heat to melt a tin or steel can....it might melt an aluminum can though