Air Lift

Add to list Go to activity
In this physics activity, challenge learners to lift a book with just air using a plastic bag and a straw. This activity demonstrates compressed air and forces. [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org.]

Quick Guide

Preparation Time:
Under 5 minutes
Learning Time:
Under 5 minutes
Estimated Materials Cost:
1 cent - $1 per student
Age Range:
Ages 6 - 11
Resource Type:
Activity
Language:
English, Spanish

Materials List (per student)

  • gallon-size, zipper-lock plastic bag
  • heavy book
  • pencil
  • plastic drinking straw
  • tape

Keywords

Subjects

  • Physical Sciences
    • Motion and Forces
    • States of Matter
      • Gases
  • The Nature of Science
    • The Scientific Process
      • Conducting Investigations
      • Formulating Explanations

Audience

To use this activity, learners need to:

  • see
  • touch

Learning styles supported:

  • Involves hands-on or lab activities

Other

Foreign language versions of this resource:

This resource is part of:

Access Rights:

  • Free access

By:

Rights:

  • All rights reserved, WGBH Educational Foundation, 2002

Funding Sources:

  • National Science Foundation, 0229796
  • Corporation for Public Broadcasting
  • The Arthur Vining Davis Foundation
  • PBS