This science experiment will fascinate kids (and adults). Here’s a short video to try it out and see a storm take shape with your own eyes, along with the explanations that go with it!
To keep the kids busy and amaze them, this scientific experiment that is circulating on social networks will amaze you. To make it, you will need a large glass container, a small candle, water, food coloring, a glass or small jar, and a lighter or matches. Place the water in the container, add the food coloring to give it a little more magic, and stir it all together. Then place your candle in the center and light it. Last step: take your jar, sprinkle the inside with a little perfume and place it face down on top of the candle. Then let the magic happen and observe the result!
You will instantly see a mini-storm or a mini-volcano appear inside the jar. Indeed, the water rises inside the glass, but how does this happen? On his Tiktok account, @physigeeks explains this strange phenomenon. It’s all about temperature and pressure. “When you put your lit candle in the jar, it will burn and heat the gases that are enclosed in the jar. When you heat a gas, the molecules tend to move more and more and take up more space,” he explains. At the beginning of the experiment, you can also see small bubbles escaping from the jar. “The pressure is therefore higher inside than outside. And when the candle goes out because of the CO2 that will have been formed during combustion, at that moment, the temperature drops drastically in the jar: the gas then contracts and takes up less space. Result: the pressure is lower in the jar and higher outside,” continues the physicist. We then witness a suction phenomenon to reestablish the pressure balance between the two sources.
The few drops of perfume help make the experience more spectacular since it contains a few drops of alcohol that helps to ignite the candle more easily, thus increasing the pressure and temperature. It is also recommended to wait a few seconds after adding perfume to the jar before placing it on the candle, to avoid flashback. An experiment to be carried out with caution, and with the supervision of a parent.