Name: Characteristics of Air
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 3 min 28 s
Description: Air is in constant flow and represents movement and expansion. Air is in continuous flow and represents movement and expansion. Let's explore more about air.

Question

Describe an activity to demonstrate that air exerts pressure. Draw a well labelled diagram.

Accepted Answer

Air is a mixture of many gases. Pressure is the force acting on a unit area of the object. With the help of the following activity, we can demonstrate that air exerts pressure. The materials required for this activity are a glass, thick and stiff piece of cardboard and water.

Take a glass and fill it with water up to the brim.

Make sure that there are no air bubbles.

Then take a thick, stiff piece of cardboard and put it over the glass.

Place our hand over the cardboard and quickly turn the glass upside down.

Now slowly remove the hand holding the cardboard.

Observation: The cardboard does not fall off.

Explanation: The water exerts pressure on the cardboard from above and air exerts pressure on the cardboard from below. The upward pressure exerted by air is more than the downward pressure exerted by water. This keeps the cardboard in place. But if there were air bubbles in the glass, the water would have exerted a greater downward pressure. The cardboard then would have fallen off and water would have come rushing out.

Conclusion: From the above activity, we can conclude that air exerts pressure. Atmospheric pressure is the air pressure which is exerted by the weight of air present in the atmosphere.

Describe an activity to demonstrate that air exerts pressure. Draw a well labelled diagram.

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