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As a student of the world, you have no doubt stuck a
toilet plunger to something at some time.
Why would you ever stick a toilet plunger
to anything is what we are trying desperately to understand. It is a
toilet plunger!!
A PLUNGER!
Don't you understand?!
Leave it alone!
Do you have any idea where that thing has been!
It is disgusting!
But nooooooo... you stuck it to the wall! The wall that up till
now was very very clean! Now you are going to have to move to a new house.
But it won't matter -- you'll keep sticking the
toilet plunger to stuff everywhere you go!
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Get a toilet plunger (a clean one),
and press it against a smooth surface. (You may need to lightly wet the
rim of the plunger -- do not lick it, trust us.)
Now, after pressing the plunger firmly against the smooth surface, gently
try to pull the plunger away.
With your lab partner, make a prediction about why the plunger sticks to the wall
when you gently pull it away.
Maybe we'd better start investigating this toilet
plunger puzzle more scientifically...
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What do we already know about the scientist's plunger puzzle?
- Between the plunger cup and the wall, there is a pocket of
gas (air).
- When we try to pull the plunger from the wall,
we stretch that pocket to a bigger size.
- No more gas can get in under the rim.
Probably we'd better use an experiment that will help us to
understand how pockets of gas behave when their sizes are changed.
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