Watch the following video. Watch the following video.
Source: 55 Gallon Drum Crush, morrowesdotcom, YouTube
Why do you suppose the 55 gallon drum collapsed when it was placed in ice water?
Now watch the following video, which explains where Steve Spangler gives us a little bit of insight on why this collapse happens.
Source: How to Crush a 55 Gallon drum. Stevespanglerscience, YouTube
Steve says the reason this happens is because the air pressure on the outside of the drum is much greater than the pressure on the inside. So the outside air pressure pushes the walls of the drum to collapse.
What Steve doesn’t explain is that when you lower the temperature of the air inside of the drum, the volume of the air decreases. When the volume decreases there is nothing to push outward on the sides of the drum to keep it from collapsing.
Charles’ Law states that the volume of a gas is directly proportional to the Kelvin temperature of the gas. So if we decrease the temperature of the gas, the volume also decreases. If you increase the temperature of a gas the volume of the gas should also increase.