How to make a geyser in a bottle

Create a powerful geyser on your desk!

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

Warn­ing! Ob­serve safe­ty rules when work­ing with fire.

Equip­ment

  • glass bot­tle;
  • con­tain­er with wa­ter;
  • iso­propyl al­co­hol (an­ti­sep­tic);
  • long match.

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Pour some iso­propyl al­co­hol into a glass bot­tle and let it evap­o­rate. Care­ful­ly set fire to the al­co­hol va­por in the bot­tle by bring­ing a long, lit match to the neck. Quick­ly set the bot­tle up­side down in a con­tain­er of wa­ter. A pow­er­ful foun­tain fills the bot­tle!

Process de­scrip­tion

When the al­co­hol va­por burns, the tem­per­a­ture in the bot­tle ris­es, and the air in­side it ex­pands and par­tial­ly es­capes from the bot­tle. When the neck is sub­merged in wa­ter, the oxy­gen sup­ply to the bot­tle is cut off: com­bus­tion stops, and the tem­per­a­ture drops sharply. The pres­sure de­creas­es to­geth­er with the tem­per­a­ture, which leads to at­mo­spher­ic pres­sure sharply forc­ing the liq­uid into the bot­tle.

More ex­cit­ing ex­per­i­ments can be found in the MEL Physics sub­scrip­tion!

Try it