# Tennis balls in a bottle? Deck of cards in a bottle?? How??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2004, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-balls-in-a-bottle-deck-of-cards-in-a-bottle-how/275151 "2004-11-16T23:52:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-balls-in-a-bottle-deck-of-cards-in-a-bottle-how/275151/41 "2004-11-18T00:44:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Solution #1 you stole from me. Um - ok… I guess, if it really means that much to you, I don’t want you to go and do something drastic, so if you want, yes you gave me that idea, actually I called you a day before and asked you how could this be possiable, and you told me, thank you very much, also thanks for the instructions for how to boil water, it makes my coffee so much better then using cold water :rolleyes: :wally ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-balls-in-a-bottle-deck-of-cards-in-a-bottle-how/275151/42 "2004-11-18T00:55:22Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Um - ok… I guess, if it really means that much to you, I don’t want you to go and do something drastic, so if you want, yes you gave me that idea, actually I called you a day before and asked you how could this be possiable, and you told me, thank you very much, also thanks for the instructions for how to boil water, it makes my coffee so much better then using cold water :rolleyes: :wally _Now_ I remember you! 😛 And if you’ll pour that coffee back and forth between two cups a few times, aerating it, it won’t taste as flat. See! I’m not a drastic person. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-balls-in-a-bottle-deck-of-cards-in-a-bottle-how/275151/43 "2004-11-18T01:41:17Z")
> [@MaryEFoo](#): > > Egg in bottle: Hardboil egg. Soak in vinegar to take the calcium out of the shell. Heat bottle. Set now-flexible egg at opening such that there is no air leak. As bottle cools, vacuum ensues and sucks egg into bottle. Or, drop a lit match into the bottle and quickly set the hard-boiled egg on top. The flame will use up the oxygen and suck the egg inside. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-balls-in-a-bottle-deck-of-cards-in-a-bottle-how/275151/44 "2004-11-18T05:02:21Z")
I’m surprised the discussion made it this far without someone mentioning William Poundstone’s “Biggest Secrets” bottle article. Maybe I missed it. Maybe y’all pissed about the vade mecum deal. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-balls-in-a-bottle-deck-of-cards-in-a-bottle-how/275151/45 "2004-11-18T05:29:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Or, drop a lit match into the bottle and quickly set the hard-boiled egg on top. The flame will use up the oxygen and suck the egg inside. It’s not because it’s using up the oxygen, since the CO[sub]2[/sub] and water vapor it produces will more than make up for the depleted oxygen. It’s because it’s heating the air. When the air heats up, it expands, and is able to squeeze out past the egg. But when it subsequently cools off, it’ll contract again, and the egg pushed tight against the opening will prevent air from squeezing back in. So once it cools off, you have a pressure difference. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-balls-in-a-bottle-deck-of-cards-in-a-bottle-how/275151/46 "2004-11-18T05:32:40Z")
Hmm. I stand corrected. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-balls-in-a-bottle-deck-of-cards-in-a-bottle-how/275151/47 "2004-11-18T08:17:00Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > (Stuff about pears in bottles) > > See post #22. Er, and my OP: > [@](#): > > I know all about the glass bottles with fully grown pears inside, that that pear liquor comes in - you just put the bottle over the baby pear and wait for it to grow. But that approach isn’t going to work with these inanimate objects. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-balls-in-a-bottle-deck-of-cards-in-a-bottle-how/275151/48 "2004-11-19T00:29:10Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Er, and my OP: Oops! Buncha black feathers 'round here, hmmm? ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-balls-in-a-bottle-deck-of-cards-in-a-bottle-how/275151/49 "2004-11-19T03:21:38Z")
OK: So I understand about folding a deck of cards one at a time and assembling the Rubik’s cube piece-by-piece, but how do they get a grown pear in a bottle? The pear is obviously whole and wasn’t cut or folded. Do they cut the bottom of the glass bottle and then reseal it? Wouldn’t the seam still be visible? ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-balls-in-a-bottle-deck-of-cards-in-a-bottle-how/275151/50 "2004-11-19T04:06:59Z")
Whoosh, **CaveMike** , that’s the sound of that pear being sucked into a bottle by a matchstick carved through an Egyptian penny while playing Gin Rummy with a deck of cards in a … er … bottle of gin. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-balls-in-a-bottle-deck-of-cards-in-a-bottle-how/275151/51 "2004-11-19T04:11:11Z")
OK, I understand how they get the penny inside a pear, but how do they get a Rubik’s Cube inside a pack of cards? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-balls-in-a-bottle-deck-of-cards-in-a-bottle-how/275151.md?page=2)