7 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Ask Anything Wednesday - Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science
If you put a Ziploc bag in a perfect vacuum, unzip it, bulge it out so the vacuum continues into the bag, and then seal the zip on it, would anything prevent the bag from collapsing if you tried to squish it (since there isn't anything in the bag and neither is there anything outside the bag).
Comment by labroid at 26/04/2023 at 16:27 UTC
18 upvotes, 1 direct replies
If you were still in a vacuum, you could push the bag to a collapsed state, or "unsquish" it to any shape you want that the plastic will support. There is nothing on the inside or outside to stop you from doing that (ignoring static electrical charges that may have accumulated)
If you took the bag to normal atmosphere, it would squish back down by itself, since atmospheric pressure will press inward, and there is nothing on the inside to press back