Question

A factory at a low elevation ships bags of popcorn to cities at high elevations. Why does the factory manager need to monitor the amount of air in each bag?

Answer 1

The air in the popcorn bags exert a force on the bag from the inside and the air in the atmosphere presses the bag from the outside. These 2 forces are balanced. But when we go to a higher altitude, the atmosphere becomes thinner hence the force it exerts on the popcorn bag becomes less. This results in and imbalance in forces where the force inside the bag is greater than the force outside. This causes the bags to puff up. If the pressure difference is too high, the bags can burst open. Hence the factory manager needs to monitor the amount of air in each bag.