Suck it Up!!

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Neighbor Logan opted to stay with me while his parents went somewhere, and we had shrimp and grits for a late lunch. I was paying more attention to the meal and whether he would like it (he ate it), when I should have watched the fountain. Usually I turn it on, moisten the water pathway, and check to make sure water isn’t hitting the front lip to splash into the glass bowl below. When I was cleaning up after the meal, I glanced through the kitchen window and saw ALL the water had flowed out. I rushed to turn off the pump and told myself I’d worry about it later.

The water was at the very top of the clear bowl, and it would likely be a mess no matter how I removed it. I have always been enamored of the siphoning process but never found a practical application. Kate had brought us some long silicone straws, and I remembered they had a crook in them. The crook was irrelevant, since they were very pliable. Taking a plastic bowl with me, I held it against the cabinet with my body. For the sake of the experiment, I assumed the water was fairly clean and sucked it up to the top of the straw. I then flipped that flexible tube into the glass bowl and the mixing bowl at the same time. Yes! Water flowed from the upper level to the lower. Half way through I poured the water back into the fountain, then finished the job.

I am inordinately pleased that the straw worked to siphon the water to a lower level. Wanting to make sure I knew WHY it worked, I asked my phone. It’s because the atmospheric pressure is lower at the longer end, thus pulling the water up and over the edge. And the source of the information?? YouTube!! It was my tube, alright!

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Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

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24 thoughts on “Suck it Up!!”

  9. Oh Anne, you are braver than me. I am always afraid of getting water in my mouth. My siphoning always revolved around fish tanks. Maybe that’s why. If I was siphoning it was because the water was hideously dirty.

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  10. I love that you asked the phone! A very modern approach to learning about an old technique. I am afraid I was first taught about siphons around gasoline with the warning not to get any in my mouth. Ugh.

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