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Hi, I am a second-grader who is working on a science fair project, "Can you weigh air?" My teacher would like us to ask an expert, and I was hoping that you could give me your opinion.
If you have an answer to this question, and how you know, I would appreciate your help.
Mason
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I love these emails that come in but I don't know if a second grader really wrote this one......We'll help you out and you might need a parent's help for this 'matter' anyway.
Air takes up space and has weight. We can't feel it but air actually exerts about 14.7 pounds of force per square inch. It's all around us all the time, we are pretty used to it. You have air inside your body too, this balances out the pressures.
You can weigh air by just using balloons and a stick. You'll need a stick, three pieces of string, two same sized balloons and a pin. You can tie a string in the middle of the stick first, then blow up the balloons and tie them to each side of the stick. Pop one and see what happens. Try this with balloons blown up with different amounts of air and see what you get!
Good luck!
Answered by KSL Meteorologist Dina Freedman.
