Prove that air has mass

[TheoPetro]

Originally posted by: Brutuskend
If something is lighter than air (helium as an example) is has less mass right?

Or am I off base here?

only if the airplane takes off

 

[Legendary]

Originally posted by: Brutuskend
If something is lighter than air (helium as an example) is has less mass right?

Or am I off base here?

Less density = floating (consider ice, less dense with air inside thus floats. Helium has an atomic mass less than the many elements that make up air (nitrogen, oxygen, all significantly heavier elements)

 

[MX2]

I thought the title said..."Prove there's hair on my ass"

 

[OrganizedChaos]

put your friend in a big container and weigh him.

now do it again but draw 29.9 In. Hg of vacuum on the container.

if your friend is right he will weigh the same.

 

[everman]

Originally posted by: iliopsoas

Originally posted by: everman
Normally I say that there aren't any stupid questions, but I'll make an exception for this one. Unless you are in the third grade that is.

It may be stupid to you but it's pretty darn obvious you can't come up with simple explanation for this concept to teach a bunch of fourth-graders.

Oh really? or should I say O'RLY

How about this: We will start off telling the fourth graders that air actually does weigh something and we will prove it. The problem is that it's hard to tell that it weighs anything unless you get a lot of it in a small area. I'd take an empty scuba tank and weigh it. Then fill it with air and weigh it again and see that it does indeed weigh more after putting air into it. We could even keep it on the scale as we place air inside the tank.

Kids of that age are more likely to learn through an example like that.

 

[savvy]

Air resistance.