Every instinct tells you that blowing air at the ball will push it out of the funnel. Every instinct is wrong.

When you blow through the narrow stem, the air is forced to squeeze through a smaller space — so it speeds up dramatically. Think of putting your thumb over a garden hose: same water, smaller gap, faster jet. The same thing happens with air through the funnel stem.

Here's the key: when air moves faster, it pushes sideways with less force. Scientists call this Bernoulli's Principle. The fast-moving air rushing around the ball creates a zone of lower pressure right there in the funnel. 

The still air outside hasn't changed — it's pushing inward at full atmospheric pressure from every direction. That higher outside pressure squeezes the ball inward from all sides, holding it against gravity.

The harder you blow, the faster the air moves, the lower the pressure — and the more firmly the ball is locked in.

Did you notice that blowing harder doesn't dislodge it? That's the moment Bernoulli beats instinct completely.

Bernoulli's Principle shapes the world: aeroplane wings are curved so air moves faster over the top, creating low pressure above that lifts the plane; a cricket ball's seam makes one side cut through air faster, curving it in flight. 

You can feel the same principle at work in [The Chatterbox Tube], where one breath across an opening inflates an entire tube — and see atmospheric pressure doing something equally counterintuitive in [The Magic Water Cup].

What would happen if the ball was almost exactly the same size as the wide end of the funnel — too big to sit inside? 

Find out in The Crazy Scientist Lab.