MAGIC BANANA PEELER (Amazing Science Games and Experiments)

Materials Required:

1. Knife
2. Ripe banana
3. 1¼ litre transparent bottle,
   with a neck about the same
   width as the banana
4. Newspaper
5. Match box

Procedure:

1. Ask one of your parents to use the knife to slice a 1 ½ inch cross- section from a ripe banana (skin and all).
2. Fold a 6-inch–long, 1-inch–wide strip of newspaper until it is ¼ inch wide. Ask one of your parents to light this paper with a matchstick and drop it gently into the bottle.
3. When you see the flame start to die out, press the banana firmly on the lip of the bottle. (It should not slip down into the neck, but should hang over the edge a little bit.) The banana pulp will slip into the bottle, while the skin will remain outside, against the lip.

This is what happens:

The heat produced inside the bottle causes the air to expand, forcing some of it to leave. Then as you block the opening (with the ripe banana), the cooling air occupies less space and has a reduced pressure. The greater air pressure on the outside of the bottle pushes the soft banana pulp into the bottle. The skin, however, is prevented from entering by the edge of the bottle lip.