why glass container lid is sucked in on itself

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Howdy all,
Hope this is the right flair.
Yesterday I discovered one of our glass Tupperware containers in the hatch of my wife’s car and the lid is sucked in on itself.
The lid has four clips that snap under the lip of the glass and it’s air tight I would assume. It has remnants of her buffalo chicken chili in it. That has dairy in it.
It’s also been relatively warm here until yesterday when I discovered it. It was 15 degrees F difference.
Thanks in advance for your answers.

In: Biology

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Things, notably air shrink when they cool. When she shut the food in the container it was still hot and was surrounded by hot air. Once she sealed it and allowed it to cool, the air (and to some extent the food too) shrank – in particular the steam that had been in the air condensed into water and shrank considerably. This reduced the pressure inside the container so the atmospheric pressure is holding it shut.

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