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Saturday Explorations 1998
Shodor > SUCCEED > Workshops > Archive > Saturday Explorations 1998

The first session of the Saturday Explorations Club has begun. Today's question - How does air move through objects? Dr. Robert Panoff, or "Bob1," demonstrates in great detail how this is possible. We all go outside, Bob1 shows us six empty bottles, and points out that there was nothing special about the bottles.

Bottles are given to each student for a demonstration and are filled with water. Each of the explorers received one bottle and is given the assignment to see how quickly they can remove water from the bottle. "This is so fun," says Sonny, one of the explorers.

Each explorer uses a different method to try to remove the water from the bottles. The first method that they use is the "vertical" method, i.e., turning the bottle completely over and letting the water come out. The results from this test were not what the explorers expected with the times ranging from thirty seconds to almost two minutes! Next, students held the bottles at a forty-five degree angle. The result from this test were quicker than holding the bottles vertically but were not much of an improvement. From these two "disasters" the explorers decided to use the tornado method, i.e., taking the bottles and twisting them (in place) rapidly to create a tornado. The results amazes the explorers so much that they conclude that this must be the best method. Bob1 foils this though with a demonstration of "turning" method. Using their bodies as an axis, the explorers hold the bottles horizontally and spin around, forcing air into the bottle which forces the water out. The explorers "mouths almost dropped" when they found out that, by using this method, the water exits the bottles in less than five seconds!

The explorers return to the lab to compile their results in an Excel spreadsheet. The results are graphed to show the significant differences in their results. After all this fun the explorers write their weekly reports which are posted at this site. "What are we doing next week!?" Weldah exclaims at the end of the class.