Candle in the Water

Learn about oxygen and air pressure with candles (with great adult supervision, of course!).

You’ll need a small candle and three or four glass jars of various sizes. Can you predict what will happen if you put a jar over a lit candle? What will be different with a larger jar versus a smaller one? Use a stopwatch to make your measurements and record your results.

Next, place your candle in a shallow saucer of water. Once it’s burning steadily, place a glass jar over the candle again. What do you observe? Why did it happen? Once you’ve formed a hypothesis, check the video to learn what happens with the candle and the water.