A curious thought~ (1 Viewer)

[kooltrainer]

would a packet of red rock deli, sweet chilli and sour cream (mmmmnn yumm ) chips inflate when it is brought on an areoplane and risen for a while?

its random but the answer is yes from first hand experience
but dunno why though..

 

[ssglain]

The physics people might be the right ones to ask. Nonetheless, it's a simple matter of air pressure. At higher altitudes, the surrounding air has lower pressure than the air inside your standard pack of Red Rock Deli (which was packaged at ground level), so the tendency of air to move from regions of high pressure to those of lower pressure causes the package to inflate. The same thing happens inside your ears - it helps if you pretend to chew or yawn as this opens up the Eustachian tube connecting your ear canal and mouth and the air exchange equalises the pressure.

 

[kooltrainer]

So...
red rock deli has high pressure because it was packaged at ground lvl
and its surrounding is low pressure because of high altitude.

when high pressure moves to low pressure, that would cause it to deflate .. not inflate?

 

[ssglain]

So...
red rock deli has high pressure because it was packaged at ground lvl
and its surrounding is low pressure because of high altitude.

when high pressure moves to low pressure, that would cause it to deflate .. not inflate?

You're forgetting that the package is sealed. So as the air attempts to move out the package expands in volume. The same mass of air takes up greater volume when the pressure is lower.

 

[xiao1985]

strange.

I would have thought the areoplane would have attempted to keep the pressure relatively constant throughout the flight.

 

[ssglain]

strange.

I would have thought the areoplane would have attempted to keep the pressure relatively constant throughout the flight.

They do try to maintain everything as similar to ground conditions as possible, but nothing's spot on. The air pressure within the cabin is still lower than it is on the ground.

 

[kooltrainer]

oh, ur james fd haha :L

 

[xiao1985]

They do try to maintain everything as similar to ground conditions as possible, but nothing's spot on. The air pressure within the cabin is still lower than it is on the ground.

point taken...

if possible, I would like to actually test it out with an actual barometer or something similiar.

 

[Steth0scope]

They do try to maintain everything as similar to ground conditions as possible, but nothing's spot on. The air pressure within the cabin is still lower than it is on the ground.

Out of curiousity - How do you know all that stuff?

 

[brenton1987]

When you are on the plane the cabin staff tell you that the cabin will be pressurised to 8,000 feet.