imploding liquids?

Question

this is probably a basic question, but i was called to transfer the contents of a glass bottle from the ultrasound room to the tech center which held, i'm assuming, liquid from a patient via a standard thoracentesis procedure.

when i picked it up, the doctor told me to be extra careful with it; if i dropped it, it would implode because the bottle was in a vacuum-ous(?) state. i've heard of solid matter imploding, but not liquid. or, was he referring to the bottle itself imploding? i'm guessing that would make a lot more sense.

i was just wondering if anyone knew any more on this subject. i know the difference between an explosion and an implosion, but does anyone know what it would look like for a glass jar containing liquid to implode on itself?

Answer 1

For an implosion to take place, the pressure within the bottle would have to be lower than the normal air pressure outside of the bottle.

It does not matter what is in the bottle if this is the case - solid, liquid or gas - as it is the bottle itself that implodes, not the contents.

As regards what it would like - well, to the human eye, it wouldn't look any different to if you just dropped the bottle on the floor and it broke. In slow-mo you would be able to see the bottle being crushed in a similar way to a crisp packet when you suck the air out of it.

Answer 2

Liquids are essentially incompressible and can't implode. A few of them can EXplode, but probably nothing you're going to encounter in a medical lab.

The implosion danger is because the bottle contains a partial vacuum. Some medical vessels are pre-charged with a partial vacuum so that they will be self-filling when opened to fluid at normal pressure.

Answer 3

It would be similar to the "implosion" of a light bulb that was been dropped. You have to admit that they create quite more of a mess than if say you knock a glass off the counter.