Various experiments and demonstrations relate air pressure and air pressure difference to force and area. Carpenter and Minnix describe a large-scale pneumatic lift in which a person sitting on a board atop a plastic garbage bag is lifted when the bag is connected to the exhaustport of a vacuum cleaner, which easily lifts the person. This article describes the construction and use of an inexpensive hand-held pneumatic lift to demonstrate the same principle.
References
1.
D. Rae
Carpenter
Jr. and Richard
Minnix
, The Dick and Rae Physics Demo Notebook
, 2nd ed. (DICK and RAE, Inc.
, Lexington, VA
, 2003
), p. F–060
2.
Ernest
Hammond
, “Demonstration of atmospheric pressure
,” Phys. Teach.
3
, 285
(Sept.
1965
). Describes use of Magdeburg hemisphere demonstration apparatus.3.
Carl H.
Hayn
, “Archimedes and the Magdeburg hemispheres
,” Phys. Teach.
13
, 42
–43
(Jan.
1975
). Describes using the Magdeburg hemisphere equipment with weights and a lever to measure atmospheric pressure.4.
Armand
Le Noxaïc
, “A spectacular experiment exhibiting atmospheric pressure
,” Phys. Teach.
52
, 223
–225
(April
2014
). Describes a variation on the Magdeburg hemisphere experiment inspired by a description of an experiment by Pascal.5.
Gholamreza
Shamsipour
, “Simple experiments for teaching air pressure
,” Phys. Teach.
44
, 576
–577
(Dec.
2006
). Simple experiments using a plastic bottle and a rubber balloon.6.
Bing-Hong
Ku
and Chyong-Sun
Chen
, “The jar magic — Instructional activities for teaching air pressure
,” Phys. Teach.
51
, 557
(Dec.
2013
). Various experiments using a water pressure apparatus and a vacuum jar and hand-operated vacuum pump. Source for apparatus is not given, but it could probably be replaced with homemade equipment using plastic jars and a vacuum device for wine bottles.7.
C.
Frederick Lohrengel
II and Paul R.
Larson
“Determining atmospheric pressure using a water barometer
,” Phys. Teach.
50
, 563
–565
(Dec.
2012
). Construction and use of a PVC pipe water barometer to measure air pressure.8.
Alexander
Kazachkov
, Dmitriy
Kryuchkov
, Courtney
Willis
, and John C.
Moore
, “An atmospheric pressure Ping-Pong ‘ballometer
,’” Phys. Teach.
44
, 492
–494
(Nov.
2006
). Variation on demonstration of card held on mouth of inverted water-filled jar replaces card with a Ping-Pong ball and describes using the experiment to measure atmospheric pressure.9.
If a drill press is not available, you may use a handheld variable speed electric drill. Be careful to drill the center hole perpendicular to the flat face of the foam. Safety note: Tie back long hair and tuck necktie into shirt when using drill press or electric drill.
10.
A variable speed electric drill could be used for this operation but you would need to clamp it in place and keep the surface of the sanding block at the correct angle to sand the disk to the proper size. If you do not have a drill press, your school may have a shop that has one. If the drill press you use has a forward/reverse switch, make sure it is in forward.
11.
The Vernier Software Gas Pressure Sensor and the PASCO Relative Pressure Sensor are sensitive enough to measure the pressure differences (on the order of 1 kPa) to operate the lift.
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2017
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