Destroying a Soda Can with a Ping Pong Ball!
We’re introducing a new series this week demonstrating Simple Feats of Science! Kishore and Norm are joined by Zeke Kossover from San Francisco’s Exploratorium science museum to show how you can destroy a soda can with a ping pong ball moving at almost the speed of sound! (Thanks to the Exploratorium for sharing with us these experiments.)
26 thoughts on “Destroying a Soda Can with a Ping Pong Ball!”
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AWESOME VIDEO! Thanks for the fantastic video!
Didn’t Mythbusters do this experiment?
I think they did, and attempted to make the tube larger and larger, but ran into the forward filling air problem. For them it built a cushion of air at the end, so that it didn’t burst through the tape, and just stopped short.
Revisit this with a full can? Please?
I think a full can would be very sturdy. Even a closed empty can wouldn’t puncture because the air inside can’t escape and pushes back…
But maybe a golfball could do the trick…
Cool! I’d like to see this with a block of ballistic gelatin at the end, for science of course.
> I think a full can would be very sturdy
But how sturdy? We Mythbusters fans have been spoiled for years by the whole Mythbusters Gang, and now expect a lot from our science presentations…
Interesting and refreshing to see the soda brand not being obscured in any way.
I would like to see this done with steam. Use steam for the high pressure side and then seal off a steam filled chamber and chill it for the negative pressure side. Hmmm… I wish there was a show…
Mythbusters did this in season 15 and broke the speed of sound. The episode explained the steps need leading to this. They shot a hole in a ping pong paddle with a ping pong ball. The episode was based on a classroom science demonstration.
I prefer the Jamie and Adam’s version of this.
I think that Kishore needs to binge-watch Mythbusters before he tries this again.
I think you’d struggle to make teaching your kids to blow two inch holes in most plywood structures sound like a good idea to most parents. And I’m pretty sure the parents who would much like you already have the basics down for it through research. 🙂
Hey – we totally knew the Mythbusters did this experiment – its why I asked about the packing tape, which Adam used in the first iteration of the cannon on the show.
We wanted to show a part of the experiment that can be done at home, with relatively simple equipment (I recognize a vacuum pump is not an everyday item, but can’t win them all).
We decided not to go to the next step of putting pressurized air in behind the ball for safety reasons. You are essentially creating a pipe bomb of sorts, which requires a great deal of precautions that weren’t reasonable to pursue for this quick shoot. That’s really quite dangerous and you don’t want to try that home.
I personally love the Purdue engineering team’s supersonic ping pong cannon design: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYNCGZCul1Q
With a full can you make more of a mess, but don’t learn anything more.
I’m hoping with this series you get a version of the Tested Show and Tell, but with science experiments. You learn about the science, a little about the build process, and it will hopefully lead you to trying a version at home.
No Zeke wasn’t that irritated with me about throwing the ping pong ball. He definitely seemed like it at first though, but said he was just caught off guard.
And if you want to see what it looks like to shoot this at a bunch of random stuff, you can see an episode of Hard Science (from Discovery Digital), where Zeke and I served as science advisors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9RcBVk08Tw
Let me know if there are experiments that you’d like to see – I’ll try and make it happen.
good stuff, kishore!
i think it was obvious that this wasn’t aimed at replicating mythbusters. where MB always has a way of pushing stuff to ridiculous extremes in the course of busting a myth – basically answering the question how big a bang you could achieve with a certain principle when you remove all obstacles of practicality and budget – this clearly was going the opposite way: how impressively can you illustrate a principle with little expense?
it’s like a comparison of the latest PCIe SSD versus the market of budget SSDs. one is interesting for very dedicated folks, and for academic reasons. the other is what actually gets bought in relevant quantity because it makes a much bigger bang for its value.
If you are taking requests, I’d like to see a dozen or so balloons filled with Hydrogen + Oxygen turned loose into the sky with little burning fuses attached to them.
King of Random has a nice design for an oxy-hydrogen generator.
Well you asked…
I really like Kishor. He’s a great addition to the team.
This was a great demo of how this can be done reasonably safely and on a budget 🙂
I wonder if you could get decent results with a manual pump, or would there be too much air left in the tube?
Manual pump will definitely work – just won’t get up to quite the same speed, but its a ton of work.
Those foodsavers can often be found at thrift stores for cheap – can pull an impressive vacuum (I’ve seen 25″ Hg). Probably your cheapest and most effective bet.
…. so I guess that you were not paying attention to that “Don’t try this at home” message.
Really, you expect that families have the equipment at home and that loving parents (with no training) will do this with their kids? Sorry, but all of this strikes me as a special kind of stupid.
Seriously, doing this at home with kids around is reckless, shame on you.
I dare you to tell me that Adam approved this nonsense for the home.
I think you misunderstand my message. We’re definitely not advertising “do try this at home” for this series – I don’t think thats said in the video. But many science demos use outlandish equipment beyond the reach of most people. I wanted to make something approachable.
We wanted to demonstrate the physics of air resistance and refer people to the Exploratorium site which has experiments designed for parents at home. I also highly recommend HowToSmile.org for a database of great at home activities.
Not sure if you’re joking or not.
I’d do this with my kids in a heartbeat… unless you purposefully try to hurt someone by skipping the safety glasses/ear-protection and stand in the line of fire, everyone will be perfectly fine 100% of the time.
As for the equipment, anything you don’t already have you can get at any hardware store for less than you’d spend to go see a movie, once you factor in parking and popcorn. This seems like a much more fun way to spend a weekend.
These are your words,
“We wanted to show a part of the experiment that can be done at home, with relatively simple equipment (I recognize a vacuum pump is not an everyday item, but can’t win them all).”
You said that it can be done at home but now you say that you cannot. This is part of the special kind of stupid.
I totally get it, you twist the story around to make it work for you.
Real scientists don’t do this, shame on you.
Still waiting for you to tell me that Adam says that it is ok to do this at home.
Sorry, I should say real scientists do not need to do this, shame on you.
Safety glasses/ear protection, it is so cool to know parents do this. Kids need to be exposed to supervised risks. It makes them resilient.
Some parents are not so cool. I worry about the kids with the “not so cool” parents.
So you playing MythBusters, without actual MythBusters, while hanging with real MythBusters.
Hmmmm.
@sciencequiche Nice start Kishore! Can’t wait to see more of where you guys go.
@sciencequiche great job Kishore! Don’t let any petulant “scientists” get to you.