The unlikely looking contraption seen in the photograph below is the subject of the question for this week.
When you blow into the mouthpiece, marked in the photograph, the air bends and goes up vertically through the opening, as shown by the arrows superposed on the photograph of the tube. A styrofoam ball placed into the curved tube can leave the tube via either of two routes, shown in an mpeg video by clicking your mouse on the photograph above. Notice that the tube at the top separates, with two openings, the upper of which is closed with a white plastic cap.
So here is the question: What will happen to the styrofoam ball when it is positioned on the bottom of the tube, as seen in the photograph, and you begin to blow air into the tube through the mouthpiece?
The foam ball will:
You must justify any silly behavior that you might predict by calling upon actual physics principles.
Click here for Answer #322 after October 6, 2008.
