Collapsing Can Lab

Have you ever tried heating up water in an aluminum can (soda can)? Well how about then putting that can into ice water? If you haven't, I'll let you know what happens. It collapses. Why does this happen? As you heat the can and then dump the water into the ice water while dipping the can in the ice water, you take all of the air out of the can. Therefore, the air on the outside has a greater pressure than the air on the inside. This pressure is strong enough to crush the enpty soda can. Air pressure is the force exerted by air. This is the force that crushes the can. Pretty cool, right?

Picture:

http://serc.carleton.edu/images/earthlabs/hurricanes/can-crush.jpg