======Pencils Through a Bag====== **Materials: **{{$demo.materials_description}}\\ **Difficulty: **{{$demo.difficulty_description}}\\ **Safety: **{{$demo.safety_description}}\\ \\ **Categories:** {{$demo.categories}} \\ **Alternative titles:** ====Summary==== {{$demo.summary}} ====Procedure==== - Fill a resealable plastic bag about two-thirds full of water and seal it tightly. - Hold the bag over a sink, bucket, or outdoors to avoid spills. - Carefully push a sharpened pencil straight through one side of the bag and out the other side. - Try with additional pencils to see how many can be pushed through without leaking. ====Links==== The Pencils Through a Bag Experiment - We Are Teachers: {{youtube>Ws2Uuuv1mYU?}}\\ Science Behind A Pencil Thru a Bag Full of Water (No Spills!) - SD Lab Rats: {{youtube>NMnEUuCatXw?}}\\ 📄 Poke but don't Soak - ACS: [[https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/adventures-in-chemistry/experiments/poke-dont-soak.html]]\\ ====Variations==== * Use colored water in the bag to make leaks easier to see. * Experiment with other sharp objects (toothpicks, knitting needles) to compare results. * Measure how many pencils can be pushed through before the bag eventually leaks. ====Safety Precautions==== * Adult supervision required - pencils and skewers are sharp. * Perform over a bucket, sink, or outdoors to contain spills. ====Questions to Consider==== * Why doesn’t water leak out of the bag even when pencils poke through it? * What property of polymers allows the bag and balloon to stretch and reseal around the objects? * How is the material of the bag different from stiff materials like glass or wood? * Where in everyday life do we rely on flexible, sealing materials like this?