Safe way to make smoke (Bernoulli's Principle in action)

lcorinth · Mar 9, 2015

I have this cool demonstration of Bernoulli's Principle, and I'd like to figure out how to use it for a rocketry camp I'm teaching this summer. But I can't go with the method I discovered it with.

Here's the back story. I was hanging out with a friend on my back porch. He was smoking a cigarette. I happened to have a can of canned air out there for some reason. He blew out a big puff of smoke. I was goofing around, and pointed the canned air (with straw) at the smoke, thinking I would blow it away, but the coolest thing happened - the whole cloud of smoke got sucked into the center of the column of moving air, and I thought Bernoulli's Principle!! That's so cool!!

I thought this would be a cool visual demonstration for the kids, but I'm obviously not going to light up a cigarette in front of them. Is there a safe way to, outside, make a cloud of smoke or vapor that I could do this with?

CZ Brat · Mar 9, 2015

There are safe smoke makers. Ussually see them at the Halloween stores. Not sure how easy/cheap it is to find one this time of year.

rc dude · Mar 9, 2015

You can also look on scale train websites, they may have tutorials on how to make smoke generators.

K'Tesh · Mar 9, 2015

dry ice and water?

Rex R · Mar 9, 2015

incense? a stick of 'punk'?
Rex

rbelknap · Mar 9, 2015

dry ice fog / machine? (like you see at halloween?)

I really should learn to reload before I post on a tab that I've had open for a while.....)

lcorinth · Mar 9, 2015

K'Tesh said:
dry ice and water?

I thought of that, but dry ice fog tends to hug the ground.

Mushtang · Mar 9, 2015

Can you upload a video of what you're talking about so we can see? It sounds cool.

grapetang · Mar 9, 2015

Sounds neat! A somewhat more familiar demo would be to put a beachball in an upturned fan and have it just sit there floating rather than fly off. You may need to focus/direct the airstream through a funnel or nozzle though. The moving airstream creates a low pressure zone while the still air is higher, keeping the ball in the center. Fun stuff!

KennB · Mar 9, 2015

lcorinth said:
Is there a safe way to, outside, make a cloud of smoke or vapor that I could do this with?

Find a local beekeeper. They produce smoke to calm the bees when they need to open the hive.
The devices look pretty cool.

K'Tesh · Mar 9, 2015

KennB said:
Find a local beekeeper. They produce smoke to calm the bees when they need to open the hive.
The devices look pretty cool.

At least when my cousins were doing it, they were burning carpet (I don't know if it was all natural fibers or not).

MALBAR 70 · Mar 10, 2015

My Dad Kept honey bees for years. The stuff he used in the "smoker" was strips of old burlap sacks.
The smoker is just a metal container with a bellows attached to the side and a removable "spout" that the smoke comes out.
This might work for you (if you can find a bee smoker(maybe Agway?)) because if I remember right it produces a good amount of smoke.

GregGleason · Mar 10, 2015

You can see the same principle in the slow motion footage of a Saturn V launch. As the five F-1's come up to full pressure, the smoke is sucked back into the pad's engine pit. Bernoulli's principle at work.

[YOUTUBE]_HcnmthntUo[/YOUTUBE]

Greg

lcorinth · Mar 10, 2015

Mushtang said:
Can you upload a video of what you're talking about so we can see? It sounds cool.

I will when I get a chance to. I'm out of canned air at the moment (lotta dust around here...). It was pretty cool and totally unexpected.

Larry Curcio · Mar 10, 2015

lcorinth said:
I have this cool demonstration of Bernoulli's Principle, and I'd like to figure out how to use it for a rocketry camp I'm teaching this summer. But I can't go with the method I discovered it with.

Here's the back story. I was hanging out with a friend on my back porch. He was smoking a cigarette. I happened to have a can of canned air out there for some reason. He blew out a big puff of smoke. I was goofing around, and pointed the canned air (with straw) at the smoke, thinking I would blow it away, but the coolest thing happened - the whole cloud of smoke got sucked into the center of the column of moving air, and I thought Bernoulli's Principle!! That's so cool!!

I thought this would be a cool visual demonstration for the kids, but I'm obviously not going to light up a cigarette in front of them. Is there a safe way to, outside, make a cloud of smoke or vapor that I could do this with?

This time of year, check out fog machines in music stores. Bands use them.

Salvage-1 · Mar 10, 2015

You could infact put two 'experiments' / demonstrations together here.

Get one box (say 6" square filled with smoke), a 1" pvc pipe (12" long) and a can of air. Drill a small hole (1/4") in the side of the pipe and box and connect with a small piece of latex tubing. Now blow the compressed air down one end of the pipe and you should get a venturi effect sucking the smoke from the box into the pipe and out of the other end.

Aim this at an aerofoil and you can see the Bernoulli effect across the aerofoil. Voila!!

kyle · Mar 10, 2015

Find a fireworks stand and get some smoke bombs. Or check firefighting supply websites for bigger smoke bombs.

Safe way to make smoke (Bernoulli's Principle in action)

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