why water can’t get really fast when you put a thumb on the garden hose?

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So when you put a thumb over a garden hose you reduce the size of the opening and to keep the same flow rate the water goes out faster, right? So why can’t you (or can you) achieve arbitrary speed with that method (something like water jet cutting)? If you move your thumb to let less and less space for water to pass, shouldn’t that increase the speed of the water even more since the flow rate needs to get higher and higher? But that obviously doesn’t happen. So what determines the max speed of water? I assume the water pressure would have to be involved somehow.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Spraying nozzles do exactly that.

You can reach some higher speed but it depends on the water pressure. If the hose is too long and the pump too weak and the hight between the pump and the hose end too much, there will only be a little increase in speed.

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