Eli5: how do siphons work?

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Do siphons work only off of gravity or is there some other force keeping the liquids together to keep the flow moving?

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Siphons work because of gravity and pressure. If you take either away then they quit. A siphon in a vacuum (let’s pretend that we don’t have a problem with the water boiling away) won’t work. And a siphon in a weightless environment (no gravity effects) won’t work.

Pressure is what’s keeping the fluid together in the tube. If you try to siphon over too high a barrier it’ll quit because there isn’t enough pressure to keep the fluid together and you’ll get a vacuum (looks like a bubble but isn’t) inside the tube.

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