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PHYSICS WITHOUT APPARATUS

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Take an ordinary wine bottle and place it in front of and within a few inches of a lighted candle. Blow against the bottle with your mouth at about four or six inches distant from it and in a line with the flame. Very curiously, notwithstanding the presence of the bottle and its interception of the current of air, the candle will be immediately extinguished as if there were no obstacle in the way. This phenomenon is readily understood when we reflect that the bottle receives the current of air on its polished surface and divides it into two, one of which is guided to the right and the other to the left. These two currents, after separating and driving back the surrounding air, meet again at the very spot at which the flame is situated, and extinguish the candle.

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MPAA: PG
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