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A Sea of Nothingness?
By Linda | November 19, 2008
I ran across this YouTube video the other day and thought is was really cool. Take a look at this amazing demonstration of “invisible water”. What do you think is going on here?
As you probably guessed, there is no water in the tank. It is filled instead with a colorless, odorless (and non-toxic) gas called sulfur hexafluoride. Sulfur hexafluoride is heavier than the air around us, actually 6 times denser than the surrounding air. This causes the gas to sink to the bottom of the tank and to support anything less dense than itself (like the foil boat filled with air) on top of it, just as water would.
In a room full of helium, which is about six times lighter than air, you would get a similar effect by filling the tank with regular air. The air being much denser than the helium around it, would support the boat!
Have you ever inhaled the gas from a helium balloon to make yourself sound like a cartoon character? What do you think would happen if you inhaled sulfur hexafluoride instead? Sulfur hexafluoride is the anti-helium!
See Adam Savage from Mythbusters demonstrate this “throaty” effect in the clip below.
If you want to recreate this experiment or just make your voice sound like an Evil Overlord’s, you can buy sulfur hexaflouride (SF6) at Concord Gas. Whatever floats your boat!
Topics: Nature, Projects & Experiments, Science Factoids |
November 19th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
That is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time!
Keep up the interesting tidbits!