How do suction cups work to hold things up?
In: Physics
Get your hands wet and then press your palms together at right angles, really hard and squish the air out from between them. You have a temporary suction cup. Pull your hands apart directly, with no twisting. You can feel how much harder it is. The air pressure between your hands is much lower than the pressure outside, so your hands are being pushed together much harder than they are apart. Suction cups don’t work in outer space, for that reason. There’s no air pressure outside them. We often get them wet to make a seal under them so the air doesn’t immediately leak back in and ruin the effect.
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