The numbers
The water poured in is tiny. The pressure it produces at the bottom is not, because pressure depends on height, not on how much water there is.
⅓ cup
Water added
~52 psi
Extra pressure at the bottom
~5,000 lb
Force on the bottle's base alone
Is This Safe?
- The bottle will be behind a 1/4" plexiglass sheet that will stop any debris.
- The pressure in the barrel will be high, but since water is incompressible the bottle will collapse rather than explode.
- Expect water. Don't stand where you'd mind getting splashed.
How it works
Pascal's Law: pressure applied to a confined fluid is transmitted equally in every direction. The pressure at the bottom of a column of water is:
P = ρ g h
- P
- Pressure at the bottom of the column, and passed to every inside surface of the bottle.
- ρ
- Density of the fluid. Water is about 62.4 pounds per cubic foot.
- g
- Gravitational acceleration, about 32.2 ft/s² at Earth's surface.
- h
- Height of the water column: about 120 ft from the bottle to the top of Wilder Tower.