Balloon in a Bottle

Balloon without a hole

Balloon with a hole

Today we worked on properties of matter. After making predictions about what we thought would happen, we attempted to blow up a balloon in a 2-liter bottle. The balloon wouldn't blow up. So we removed the balloon to try to blow it up, and it worked just fine. Clearly, it wasn't a balloon issue!

We tried again, as unsuccessfully as before. Finally, we punched a hole in the bottle and tried again. This time it worked! We discussed why it worked this time, coming up with the idea that all matter, even gas, takes up space. When we blew up the balloon, we could feel the air coming out of the hole. The balloon was pushing the air out because matter cannot occupy the same space.

You should have seen all the red faces trying to blow up the balloons! It was priceless!