Question

You can break a strong wine bottle by pounding a cork into it with your fist, but the cork must press directly against the liquid filling the bottle—there can be no air between the cork and liquid. Explain why the bottle breaks only if there is no air between the cork and liquid.

a) The presence of air between the cork and liquid increases the pressure inside the bottle.
b) Air between the cork and liquid decreases the pressure inside the bottle.
c) The bottle breaks due to the force applied by the cork against the liquid.
d) None of the above.

Answer 1

A wine bottle breaks when pounding a cork into it directly against the liquid because the force exerted is directly transmitted without being absorbed by air. If air were present, it would compress, absorb the impact energy, and reduce the force, preventing breakage of the bottle.

Step-by-step explanation:

When attempting to break a strong wine bottle by pounding a cork into it, the bottle will only break if there is no air between the cork and the liquid.

The absence of air allows the force to be transmitted directly to the liquid and then to the glass without being absorbed by the compression of air, which would otherwise act as a buffer. On the other hand, if there is air between the cork and the liquid, this air compresses and absorbs the energy from the impact, reducing the amount of force transferred to the liquid and glass, thus preventing the bottle from breaking.