Visit Flinn Canada

1-800-452-1261

Live chat

M–F, 7:30 AM–5:00 PM CST

1-800-452-1261

Live chat

M–F, 7:30 AM–5:00 PM CST

Quick Order
Molarity and Solution Calculators

Your Safer Source
for Science

Since 1977

Address	P.O. Box 219 Batavia, IL 60510
Phone	800-452-1261
Fax	866-452-1436
Email	flinn@flinnsci.com

Pressure

Flinn Scientific has produced numerous teaching videos on pressure. Check them out as well as the other various teaching aids that you can integrate in your physics science lab.

Water Drops on a Penny

Why do water droplets bead when dropped on a waxy surface? Why can some insects walk on water? These observations can be attributed to the high surface tension of water. Surface tension is the result of attractive forces between molecules. Water’s large contribution to life on Earth depends on its unique properties. Without it, life on Earth would be impossible.

The Bottomless Bottle

The simple concept of pressure differentials can lead to amazing phenomena. Captivate your students by breaking a bottle with the power of cavitation!

Tornado Tube, AP1930

Tornado Tube explains how you can create a mini-tornado in your classroom by employing hydraulic principles to create the vortex of a tornado.

Two-Stage Vacuum Pump, AP1597

Two-Stage Vacuum Pump shows that this pump can be used safely with demonstrations and labs that require a vacuum system.

April Fool's Day Demonstrations Kit

April Fool's Day Demonstrations shows how you can demonstrate four different discrepant events to engage your students' curiosity and have fun on April Fool's Day.

Fountain Connection, AP8851

Fountain Connection demonstrates how compressed air can be used to create a fountain that defies gravity and explains how this type of fountain operates.

Marshmallow in a Bell Jar

Marshmallow in a Bell is a Flinn Physical Science Minute that provides the procedure and tips to help you present a fun, unforgettable Boyle’s Law demonstration.

Marshmallow in a Vacuum

Marshmallow in a Vacuum demonstrates Boyle's Law with a marshmallow that expands and contracts inside a sealed syringe.

Hydraulic Elevator

Hydraulic Elevator demonstrates atmospheric pressure with an empty test tube that slowly ascends an inverted four-foot column of water.

Straw Pressure Popper

Straw Pressure Popper are simple demonstrations that illustrate Boyle's Law.

A New Magdeburg Sphere

A New Magdeburg Sphere is a demonstration that compares air and water pressure and the "power" of a vacuum.

How Airplanes Stay Aloft

How Airplanes Stay Aloft is a fun competition that demonstrates Bernoulli's principle and air pressure.

A New Approach for the Balloon in the Flask

A New Approach for the Balloon in the Flask shows how a balloon is forced into a flask filled with ammonia gas when water is added.

Balloon in the Flask

Balloon in a Flask shows how to make a balloon collapse inward by heating water in a flask, attaching a balloon, cooling the flask.

Boiling in a Syringe

Boiling in a Syringe illustrates that boiling point depends on pressure. During this demo, water in a sealed syringe boils easily as the plunger is withdrawn and the pressure decreases.

The Egg In and Out

The Egg In and Out demonstrates the power of air pressure by "forcing" a hard-boiled egg into a bottle and then out again.

Can Crush

Can Crush demonstrates "pressure-packed" collapsing can variations using a soda can, one-gallon safety can, and 55-gallon drum.

PTV Made Simple with Liquid Nitrogen

P,T, and V Made Simple with Liquid Nitrogen is a demonstration that illustrates pressure, temperature and volume relationships for gases.

Easter Bunny Meets the Vacuum Pump

Easter Bunny Meets the Vacuum Pump teaches Boyle's Law while showing what happens when a marshmallow Easter bunny is placed in a bell jar with a vacuum pump.

Surface Tension Demonstration

Surface Tension Demonstration shows that surface tension is a force powerful enough to prevent water from spilling out of an open jar when it is turned upside down.

Egg Sucker

Egg Sucker shows how you can let air pressure do the work in removing the yolk from an egg.

Board Breaker

Board Breaker takes advantage of air pressure and the force of molecules pushing down on an object to break a wood board.

Balloon in the Flask–What Is Pressure?

Heat some water in a flask, then attach a balloon, cool the flask, and watch as the balloon collapses into the flask. An easy-to-perform and colorful variation of the common Crush the Can demonstration.

Marshmallow in a Vacuum

Help students explore and understand Boyle’s Law with this simple demonstration. See how a change in pressure affects the volume of a marshmallow. Students will easily remember the relationship between pressure and volume after participating in this activity.

Hydraulic Elevator

In an age-old demonstration, a water-filled bottle with a card over its mouth is inverted, and atmospheric pressure is shown to be greater than the water pressure, for the card is held suspended in place (see Figure 1). The following activity serves as a logical extension of that demonstration. The question is posed: if atmospheric pressure is greater than the water pressure, then the net force on the card should be upward. Why, then, does the card not move upward? Well of course, it doesn’t fit! But what if it did . . . ?

Straw Pressure Popper

Sometimes, student ideas and tricks can be used to give some insight into everyday chemistry! Use these tricks that your students have probably seen or tried before to explain Boyle’s law and the relationship between pressure and volume.

A New Magdeburg Sphere

Use this dramatic demonstration to illustrate the force of atmospheric pressure, the “power” of a vacuum, and to compare air and water pressure. Once the suction cups or Magdeburg hemispheres are pushed together, students will be amazed at how difficult it is to pull them apart!

How Airplanes Stay Aloft

A wind bag is like a balloon without any elastic qualities. It’s made out of material that is similar to a plastic grocery bag. It is eight feet long and ten inches in diameter. How many breaths would it take to blow up a bag of this size? 10 . . . 20 . . . 30 . . . more? With a little practice you will be able to blow up the bag in one breath. Try these two exciting activities with your wind bags.

A New Approach for the Balloon in the Flask

A balloon is forced into a flask using the high solubility of ammonia in water.

The Egg In and Out

Rediscover Amontons’s law by using pressure to force an egg into an Erlenmeyer flask.