- #1
Steve B
- 3
- 0
According to http://tinyurl.com/2cfghd5", an Australian physicist has discovered that The Oxford dictionary's definition of "siphon" is incorrect, attributing its effect to atmospheric pressure, rather than gravity, which is what he maintains causes it a siphon work.
This seems to me to come down to whether a siphon would work in a vacuum (but in the presence of a reasonable gravitational field - on the surface of the Moon, say). It seems to me that it wouldn't. If you sucked some liquid past the bend in the siphon, it would surely fall down the siphon's longer arm, but it seems to me that the liquid in the shorter arm would just fall back into the main body of liquid, leaving a vacuum in the siphon as it did so.
Does anybody agree or disagree?
Thanks in advance,
Steve = : ^ )
This seems to me to come down to whether a siphon would work in a vacuum (but in the presence of a reasonable gravitational field - on the surface of the Moon, say). It seems to me that it wouldn't. If you sucked some liquid past the bend in the siphon, it would surely fall down the siphon's longer arm, but it seems to me that the liquid in the shorter arm would just fall back into the main body of liquid, leaving a vacuum in the siphon as it did so.
Does anybody agree or disagree?
Thanks in advance,
Steve = : ^ )
Last edited by a moderator: