On Oct 11, 12:35 pm, Phil wrote:
On Oct 10, 10:57 pm, Le Chaud Lapin wrote:





On Oct 10, 8:38 pm, Jeff Lawrence wrote:

In article .com,
says...
It is not a matter of whether I like it or not. It is something that
simply does not happen. There is no sucking force.

My vacuum cleaner begs to differ. Yes, there is a "sucking force," it's
called "suction".

My vacuum cleaner (with the proper wand attachment) can generate enough
of this sucking force--which you say does not exist--to lift an 8 lbs.
bowling ball up against the force of gravity. If there is no "sucking
force" then what keeps the bowling ball up?

You're joking the sucking force right?

The bowling ball is being kept up it because...

1. Itstarts with 14.7 lbs/inch^2 of pressure all around it.
2. Your vaccum, when placed on the bowling ball, rarefies the air in
the wand
3. There is no longer enough air to push on the bowling ball.
4. If the area that is covered by the ball is 1 square inch, and the
vacuum is perfect, that would be enough to hold the bowling ball with
vacuum.
5. Though vacuum is not perfect, area is undoubtedly greater than 1
square inch, so it still works out to be enough to lift 8 lbs.

This 14.7 lbs per square inch is the same pressure that causes mercury
to rise in a rarefied tube 29.92 inches at standard atmosphere.

-Le Chaud Lapin-

You are simply describing the mechanism for what is commonly referred
to as suction. Tell me, if someone says to you that the sun is going
down, do you feel compelled to correct them and insist that they say
the horizon is moving up??- Hide quoted text -

No, but the person is an educated adult, saying that the Sun revolves
around the Earth, yes, I might correct them, especially if the context
involves learning.

If you teach someone who knows little about physics that there really
is a suction force, that my explanation does not matter, that person
might be inclined to believe that the lifting ability of your vacuum
could be increased indefinitely if the right engine is added to the
vacuum, which is not true. Even with 100,000 h.p. engine in the
vacuum, there will come a point where the vacuum is no able to lift
any more than the 100 lbs that it could possible lift,
theoretically.

Perspective matters, especially when the purpose of acquiring
knowledge is to apply that knowledge in technical contexts.

-Le Chaud Lapin-