Science Experiment Can a straw penetrate a potato?

Mondo Science Updated on 2024-01-30

In your life, you must have encountered a situation where you can't drink because the straw is bent. Some people also suggested the trick of using a straw: be sure to prick it down suddenly while the drink is not paying attention, so that the wrapper will not have time to react. This method obviously has a lot of jokes in it. At the end of the day, the straw's tendency to bend is caused by its weak walls and hollow structure.

Wouldn't it be incredible if I told you that I could penetrate a raw potato with a regular straw?

Of course, there is a trick to this, I need to plug one end of the straw with my thumb and stick the other end firmly towards the potato. At this point, the straw seems to suddenly become much stronger, and the potato is directly penetrated by the straw. The reason why the straw becomes firm is that when the straw is inserted into a part of the potato, the fingers and the potato that enters the straw block the two ends of the straw, and the air inside the straw is restricted to the inside and cannot be discharged, and the air is gradually compressed as more and more potatoes enter the straw.

Compressed air has more pressure than outside air, and it also supports the straw wall, so the straw becomes less prone to bending, and it is natural to penetrate the potato.

You may ask why the compressed air is more pressurizedWe can do a little experiment to get a feel for it: you only need a small syringe to do this experiment (be sure to remove the needle).

Plugging one end of the syringe with your finger and pressing the core rod of the syringe, does it feel like something is resisting you pressing down, and the further down you press, the more laborious it becomesThis is where the compressed air in the syringe comes into play. In this little experiment, we can also know that the more the air is compressed, the more pressure it will have.

100 help plan

Related Pages