Siphons for Dummy Physics Students

siphon operation

We still haven’t figured out why some people remain eternally clueless about scientific questions. We don’t think it’s genetic, however, we just figure that those poor folks never encountered a really good science (or math) teacher in their educational careers. The fact remains, however, that some people are quite clearly clueless. We realize that you can't expect complete scientific literacy out of everyone, but we sure wish the illiterate ones wouldn't pen freelance "science" articles. By that, we mean people like Benjamin Twist of Sciencing.com, who showed the world his lack of science chops in “How to Siphon Water Upwards for a Science Experiment.”

Twist sort of touched on the right answer when he introduced the topic, telling his readers that, when you siphon water (or any liquid, for that matter),

“A combination of gravity and atmospheric pressure drives the water through the hose, even if parts of the hose take the water uphill.” Unfortunately, that’s after Benjamin had already informed the world that “A siphon is a way to carry water uphill without the use of pumps…” …which, as any teenager who ever siphoned gas out of a car knows, is bullbleep: for a siphon to operate, the outlet must be lower than the inlet.

No matter how carefully Twist, his MA in Biblical Exposition notwithstanding, words the instructions; the sad fact is that he never actually informed his audience that it's physically impossible to operate a simple siphon to move liquid from a low point to a high point, i.e., uphill; you can only put a “hump” in the hose that connects the two containers.

Worse, perhaps, is that Twist passed off the forces by which a siphon works with the throwaway phrase, “[a] combination of gravity and atmospheric pressure…” That means he didn’t bother to explain how a siphon works, which – if you ask us – is a critical step in a “science experiment.” Besides, he completely ignored the cohesion of the water molecules! We guess, though, that’s about all you can expect from a scientifically illiterate Dumbass of the Day.

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