Acetone for nail polish remover can inflate balloons in a simple method using the differences in volume between liquids and gases. The experiment requires adult supervision
Equipment
Balloon
Acetone
Bowl
Boiling water caution
Spoon
Safety goggles
Experiment procedure
The procedure of the experiment can be seen in the following video
Explanation
The experiment is based on the fact that any substance in the world that changes its state from liquid to gas also changes its volume significantly. Gas occupies a much larger volume than liquid under the same conditions of pressure and temperature. How large is the volume change Take water as an example. One teaspoon of water contains about 5 cubic centimeters. If we heat the water to 100 degrees Celsius that is boil the water and turn it into steam its volume will be about 8.5 liters.
8.5 liters are 8500 cubic centimeters, that is in the transition from liquid to gas the volume of water increases by a factor of 1700
This is the scale for all substances in the world. That is the volume increases by a scale of several hundred in the transition from liquid to gas
So why did we not use water in the experiment Because the boiling temperature of water is relatively high 100 degrees Celsius and it is difficult to reach it without significant heating
Fortunately different substances have different boiling temperatures and it is possible to find substances with lower boiling points that are easier to work with.
In the current experiment we chose to use acetone that has a boiling point of 56 degrees Celsius.
As a heating method we used a bowl with boiling water which is at a temperature of 100 degrees probably cooling to about 90 degrees in the bowl
Since the acetone in the balloon is heated above 56 degrees it boils inside the balloon that is turns into gaseous acetone and this gas inflates the balloon for us.
In the transition from liquid to gas at a temperature of 56 degrees acetone increases its volume by a factor of 372 when at pressure of about one atmosphere the normal air pressure as in our experiment
Interesting to note
The reverse process from gas to liquid can also be used to shrink things see for example the shrinking bottle experiment.
In addition gases also change their volume very significantly when heated or cooled see the balloon inside bottle experiment for expansion