Lab Report 2: Testing the durability of various bottles/Cartons

Mark-Jason Amevor

ENGL 21007 – Writing for Engineers

Fall 2025

Instructor: Santonyo Bangali

Materials

The materials used for the experiment were a variety of bottles including milk jugs, soda bottles, water bottles, juice jugs, and plastic cups. A generator that converts water into oxyhydrogen via electrolysis, made by the scientist, was also used. For the plastic cups, water and dish soap were needed to contain the gas in the cup. The scientist also used a remote detonation platform.

Procedure

The experiment first starts with the plastic cups, which are used as a control and to show the power of oxyhydrogen. The cups were filled with a small amount of soap and water, then the tubing from the generator was placed inside each cup, which created bubbles that would eventually reach the top of the cups. Once full of bubbles, the cups were moved from the tubing and the generator was removed from power. The scientist then ignited the bubbles for each cup, causing a small explosion.

Next was the main experiment: A container of each type was filled with oxyhydrogen by filling them with water and closing the lid, then holding them upside down in a bucket of water and removing the lids. The tubing from the generator was then placed inside the container and the generator was connected to electricity. After the oxyhydrogen pushed out all the water in the container, the tube was removed and the cap was screwed back on. The container was then transferred to the remote ignition platform, where the cap was removed again before placed. The oxyhydrogen in the container was then ignited via the remote ignition platform.

Data

Plastic cups (Little Water)	Plastic Cup (Water-filled)	Soda Bottle 1	Soda Bottle 2	Water Bottle	Milk Jug 1	Milk Jug 2	Juice Jug 1	Juice Jug 2
Destroyed	Intact	Intact	Intact	Destroyed	Destroyed	Destroyed	Destroyed	Destroyed

Why this Matters and Questions

The experiment resulted in only the Water-filled plastic cups and the soda bottles remaining intact, while all other containers were destroyed. While the juice jugs were made of a thicker plastic than the water bottles and milk jugs, they also blew up. This means that the thicker or more sturdy a container is, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it can withstand high pressure.

Conclusions

We can conclude that soda bottles in particular are well-equipped to withstand high amounts of pressure, which makes sense, as the contents of the said bottles are carbonated and under pressure indefinitely until they are opened. Because water, milk and juice are not pressurized, they don’t need the same strength as soda doesn’t. We can also infer that the process of making this pressure-rated plastic must be considerably expensive, as it is not used in other bottles and jugs for consumption.