- About Us
- People
- Undergrad
- Graduate
- Research
- News & Events
- Outreach
- Equity
- _how-to
- Congratulations to our Class of 2021
- Archive
- AKCSE
- Atlas Tier 1 Data Centre
The Siphon
The siphon ~30 Minutes
Description: An investigation of the siphon.
Objective: To understand how a siphon works.
BC Science Content:
-specific properties of materials allow us to use them in different ways (grade 1)
-types of forces (grade 2)
-effects of balanced and unbalanced forces in daily physical activities (grade 6)
Materials: about 30 paper clips in a chain, pop bottle, 2 buckets or large containers, one length of tubing (about 2 feet)
Doing it:
A1. Take the string of paper clips and loop them over the pop bottle. Have someone hold two hands just underneath the bottle and pile and equal number of paperclips in each.
A2. Slowly lower one hand until the paper clips move. What is the difference in height?
B3. Put your finger over the ends of the tube to plug them and quickly put one end out in each bucket.
B4. Take your finger off the ends of the tube and watch the flow of
water. C1. If one person is holding each container, what happens if you
move them up and down relative to each other? How much further down does
a container have to be before there is a flow of water?
C1. If one person is holding each container, what happens if you move them up and down relative to each other? How much further down does a container have to be before there is a flow of water?
Explanation: The liquid inside the siphon is composed of atoms which are attracted to each other (that is what makes them different from a gas , where the atoms bounce around and don't see each other much). As long as the outlet of the tubing is lower than the level of the water in the upper bucket, the weight of the water pulls the rest of the column of water with it just like the chain of paperclips, with each clip being a molecule and the chain representing the intermolecular forces. Note that the water(and paperclips) are pulled uphill for part of its trip.
Created by Brock Watson July 2007