An empty soda can with some amount of water inside is heated to steaming and quickly inverted into an ice water bath. As a result of heating the can is instantly crushed. Identify the possible reason for this.
A) Energy in the can is lost.
B) Water vapour condenses leaving a vacuum, which sucks the can in.
C) Water vapour condenses and outside air pressure crushes the can.
D) The cold water shrinks the hot can.
E) Water pressure in the ice bath crushes the can.

Hint: the reason behind when the hot can crushed after heating the can and placing the can inverted in the ice water bath, crushes the soda can be found out with the help of the air pressure or the law of atmospheric pressure of substance on the earth.

Complete step by step solution:
When the liquid inside the soda can is warmed up and simmered, the steam replaces the air that is present in the can above the surface of water. When the soda can is stuck into the cold water, the vapor liquefy very fast, creating a vacuum in almost all of the can. This develops more variance between the external and internal air pressure which lead the way to a greater net internal force on the can, this results in the rapid crushing of the soda can.

This process can be viewed in other perspectives, that is the soda can have air pressure which releases on it both from external and internal and those forces are the reason for the soda can's rapid crushing. Newton’s second law trades with the sum of the forces. As long as the forces that are internal and external are stabilized and same, the soda can undertake no changes. When the forces are equalised, the soda can will be crushed rapidly.

Therefore, the water vapour condenses and outside air pressure crushes the can.

Hence the option (C), Water vapour condenses and outside air pressure crushes the can is the correct answer.

Note: The air pressure or the atmospheric pressure is the force that applies on a surface of a material by the air above the surface of the earth as gravity pulls it to Earth. Atmospheric pressure is generally measured with a barometer.