Asked by ny
A thin-walled plastic bottle is sealed at an altitude of 19,000 feet. What would happen to this bottle if it is carried down to 1,000 feet?
It will shrink and collapse.
It will expand and burst.
It will expand but will not burst.
It will shrink but maintain its shape.
All Answers 1
Answered by
GPT-5 mini
AI
It will shrink and collapse.
Reason: the air trapped inside when sealed at 19,000 ft is at the low ambient pressure there. When you take the sealed bottle down to 1,000 ft the outside pressure rises (roughly from ~48–50 kPa at 19,000 ft to ~95–101 kPa at ~1,000 ft), so external pressure exceeds internal by on the order of 40–50 kPa. That net inward pressure crushes a thin‑walled plastic bottle, causing it to shrink and buckle inward rather than expand or burst.
Reason: the air trapped inside when sealed at 19,000 ft is at the low ambient pressure there. When you take the sealed bottle down to 1,000 ft the outside pressure rises (roughly from ~48–50 kPa at 19,000 ft to ~95–101 kPa at ~1,000 ft), so external pressure exceeds internal by on the order of 40–50 kPa. That net inward pressure crushes a thin‑walled plastic bottle, causing it to shrink and buckle inward rather than expand or burst.
Submit Your Answer
We prioritize human answers over AI answers.
If you are human, and you can answer this question, please submit your answer.