Analysis

The analysis of this project's primary intent was to estimate an average force created by the pressure difference after the can had been placed in the ice bath. The following gives a description of this anaylsis.

• To get these velocities we measured the distance between images, and then used the time interval to find the velocity.
  •    Velocity  = Distance / Time
• Examination of our average accelerations indicates that most of them fall between 320-470 m/s/s. The one outlier is for Cans4006.jpg which yielded a value of 1150 m/s/s because the can crushed slightly initially and then crushed drastically by the next flash, resulting in a greater average acceleration. Excluding our outlier, we get an average of the average accelerations to be 402.8 m/s/s.

The second part of the analysis was the force analysis:

If we assume that the air pressure is the only force acting on the part of the can in bold, we can isolate that part of the can and do a simple force problem.

Fnet = N+mg = ma

N = ma – mg

N = (.004 kg)(400 m/s/s) – (.004 kg)(9.8 m/s/s)

N = 1.6 Newtons

The remaining calculations are just conversions and simple mathematics:

The surface area of the can = radius²(pi)

Surface area = (.00325 m) ²(3.14)

Surface area = 3.3 x 10^-5 m²

Air pressure = force/surface area = (1.6 Newtons)/(3.3 x 10^-5 m²)

Air pressure = 48,000 Pascals

Conversion from Pascals to psi = Pascals/Conversion factor

(48,000 Pascals)/(6.894 x 10^3 Pascals/psi) = 7.0 psi

Percent difference from accepted value:

((14.7 psi)-(7.0 psi))/(14.7 psi)*100 = 52% difference