Science Smarts: Blow me away

By Patty Rooks on September 13, 2025.

Last week we had a look at air pressure. This is a hard concept to understand because we cannot see it like we can see a chemical reaction where something turns colour for instance. When we are visual learners, sometimes it is harder to understand, so I thought I would share another favourite air pressure experiment of mine. Let’s get started!

* Remember to ask an adult before doing this experiment.

Materials

– Paper

– Scissors

– Ruler

– Pencil

Procedure

1. With your ruler, measure two 30-centimetre long strips an easy way to do this is to trace the ruler so that both strips will be identical).

2. Cut out the two strips of paper.

3. Hold the strips of paper in front of you, thick sides facing each other.

4. Make sure the strips of paper are approximately 5 centimetres apart from each other.

5. Blow steadily between the two strips of paper.

6. Observe what happens.

What is going on?

You thought that by blowing between the two strips of paper they would blow apart. Surprise!! This is not what should have happened. The two strips of paper should have moved together.

The paper strips moved together because you were blowing the air away from between them. This in turn lowered the air pressure. The pressure of the air between the strips became greater than the air between the strips, so the pieces of paper were pushed together.

Mark your calendars for the praxis AGM on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. We are always looking for new board members that want to share their love of science. Contact Praxis for further details.

Patty Rooks, senior scientific consultant Praxis Science Outreach Society. Praxis has moved! We are very fortunate to be located in the Community Futures Entre Corp Building at #202 556 Fourth St. SE, Medicine Hat, Alberta, T1A 0K8. For all your science needs, please email praxis@praxismh.ca.

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