I see people put one end of a tube in some water and then suck the other end, and then the water seems to flow out of the tube on its own? Shouldn’t there be an external force pulling the water out?
In: Physics
Without getting into a bunch of Physics terminology there are two ways water has potential energy: pressure (high pressure seeks lower pressure) and gravitational (this one is obvious).
A siphon can only work with an elevated source of liquid and an arching pipe. Basically as water is pushed into the descending portion of the pipe (via gravity) it creates low pressure in the tip of the arch.
This creates an endless loop where the high pressure water in the source sees the low pressure in the arch and *really* needs to get up there but just falls down the pipe pushing low pressure back into the top.
Latest Answers