Learn How to Crush a Soda Can

Materials you'll need

• 1 empty soda can
• 2 tablespoons of water
• Stovetop or electric burner
• Heat-resistant gloves
• Large bowl
• Ice water

 

Step-by-step tutorial

Step 1: Open your soda can and pour out any remaining liquid. Add about 2 tablespoons of water to the empty can, just enough to cover the bottom.

Step 2: Fill a large bowl with cold water and ice, and set it nearby where you can reach it quickly.

Step 3: With adult help, place the can upright on a stovetop burner on high heat. Heat the can until you can see steam rising from the opening and hear the water boiling inside.

Step 4: With adult help, put on heat-resistant gloves and carefully pick up the can. Working quickly, flip it upside down and plunge the opening straight down into the ice water. Make sure the opening is fully submerged.

Step 5: Watch the can crush itself in an instant!

Learn more

When you heat a small amount of water inside the can, it turns into steam — a gas — which fills the can and pushes most of the air out. When you flip the steaming can into ice water, that steam cools almost instantly and shrinks back into liquid water, which takes up far less space. This creates a low-pressure zone inside the can where the steam used to be. The air outside the can is still pushing at full strength — about 14.7 pounds per square inch — so with more pressure outside than inside, the can gets crushed inward in a split second. That's called an implosion!