Breaking Board Paradox--air pressure // Homemade Science with Bruce Yeany

The first time I saw the “Breaking board paradox” demonstration was on a short film clip on air pressure starring Julius Sumner Miller way back in the late 1960’s. It has never been a very popular demonstration but I’ve always found it amazing. The few people I’ve seen try to perform usually manage to break the board, but it and the paper go flying off showing a lot of motion which defeats the whole point of the demonstration. On closer inspection, I’ve noticed that narrow boards were usually used and I think that has been part of the problem. Through trial and error I’ve found that these don’t work nearly as well as wider boards.

All boards used are pine wood
3/16 inches thick , this thickness is not too hard to break and thinner boards are too flimsy
suggested width: minimum of 2.5 inches up to about 4 inches
board length 18 to 24 inches