2775: Siphon - Revision history

Kynde: /* Explanation */ more on news

2026-02-08T18:00:09Z

‎Explanation: more on news

Kynde: more on news

2026-02-08T17:52:33Z

Kynde: Category:News

2026-02-07T14:57:33Z

Category:News

CalibansCreations: /* Explanation */

2025-04-03T13:07:25Z

‎Explanation

172.70.43.143: subject/verb disagreement

2024-05-27T17:22:29Z

subject/verb disagreement

172.70.91.241: Undo revision 323944 by 108.162.210.198 (talk) If you really want a Citation Needed, it {{Citation needed}}. And you append it after punctuation. But reverting. Better without, IMO.

2023-09-19T00:05:43Z

Undo revision 323944 by 108.162.210.198 (talk) If you really want a Citation Needed, it {{Citation needed}}. And you append it after punctuation. But reverting. Better without, IMO.

108.162.210.198: /* Explanation */

2023-09-18T21:33:53Z

‎Explanation

172.70.91.68: Undo revision 314406 by 172.69.65.4 (talk) Too silly.

2023-05-29T18:47:32Z

Undo revision 314406 by 172.69.65.4 (talk) Too silly.

172.69.65.4: /* Explanation */

2023-05-29T16:28:13Z

‎Explanation

172.70.131.217 at 12:31, 27 May 2023

2023-05-27T12:31:26Z

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 ==Explanation==
-This is one of the [[:Category:News|News]] comics.
+This is one of the [[:Category:News|News]] comics, delivering physics news.
 [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] have set up a simple experiment to test how a {{w|siphon}} works, using the gravitational force on a lower portion of liquid-filled tube, atmospheric pressure on the upper reservoir, and molecular cohesion within the liquid, to move a liquid upwards through a bit of tube at a higher gravitational potential. In short, the liquid passes over a higher peak to reach a lower exit. [[Randall]] has also mentioned siphons in ''{{what if|143|Europa Water Siphon}}'' and in ''[[How To]]'' (section "How to Throw a Pool Party").

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:52, 8 February 2026
Line 10:		Line 10:

	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
		+	This is one of the [[:Category:News\|News]] comics.

	[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] have set up a simple experiment to test how a {{w\|siphon}} works, using the gravitational force on a lower portion of liquid-filled tube, atmospheric pressure on the upper reservoir, and molecular cohesion within the liquid, to move a liquid upwards through a bit of tube at a higher gravitational potential. In short, the liquid passes over a higher peak to reach a lower exit. [[Randall]] has also mentioned siphons in ''{{what if\|143\|Europa Water Siphon}}'' and in ''[[How To]]'' (section "How to Throw a Pool Party").		[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] have set up a simple experiment to test how a {{w\|siphon}} works, using the gravitational force on a lower portion of liquid-filled tube, atmospheric pressure on the upper reservoir, and molecular cohesion within the liquid, to move a liquid upwards through a bit of tube at a higher gravitational potential. In short, the liquid passes over a higher peak to reach a lower exit. [[Randall]] has also mentioned siphons in ''{{what if\|143\|Europa Water Siphon}}'' and in ''[[How To]]'' (section "How to Throw a Pool Party").

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 {{comic discussion}}
 [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
 [[Category:Physics]]

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 ==Explanation==
-[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] have set up a simple experiment to test how a {{w|siphon}} works, using the gravitational force on a lower portion of liquid-filled tube, atmospheric pressure on the upper reservoir, and molecular cohesion within the liquid, to move a liquid upwards through a bit of tube at a higher gravitational potential. In short, the liquid passes over a higher peak to reach a lower exit. [[Randall]] has also mentioned siphons in [https://what-if.xkcd.com/143/ whatif 143] and in his book, "[[How To]]," section "How to Throw a Pool Party".
+[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] have set up a simple experiment to test how a {{w|siphon}} works, using the gravitational force on a lower portion of liquid-filled tube, atmospheric pressure on the upper reservoir, and molecular cohesion within the liquid, to move a liquid upwards through a bit of tube at a higher gravitational potential. In short, the liquid passes over a higher peak to reach a lower exit. [[Randall]] has also mentioned siphons in ''{{what if|143|Europa Water Siphon}}'' and in ''[[How To]]'' (section "How to Throw a Pool Party").
 Siphons are commonly used in modern society (e.g., most {{w|Flush_toilet|American residential toilets}} are flushed by siphon action). Siphons should not be confused with [[#Trivia|capillary action]].

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 This is similar to the comic [[2115: Plutonium]], because {{w|plutonium}} (though man-'made', during nucleosynthesis) is used to power spacecraft. In that comic the title text has the same idea that someone controls the universe: ''It's like someone briefly joined the team running the universe, introduced their idea for a cool mechanic, then left, and now everyone is stuck pretending that this wildly unbalanced dynamic makes sense.''
-The entire comic is one of many where Randall muses over strange aspects of our universe, and wonders why we (people) ever think that it seems normal, the way the Universe works (or how humans works - see for instance [[1268: Alternate Universe]]).
+The entire comic is one of many where Randall muses over strange aspects of our universe, and wonders why we (people) ever think that it seems normal, the way the Universe works (or how humans work - see for instance [[1268: Alternate Universe]]).
 ==Transcript==

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 The punchline of the comic comes in the caption, which delivers a piece of ''Physics News'': "The 2023 update to the universe finally fixed the "siphon" bug." The joke here is that the entire complex and multifaceted system of {{w|physics}} in and of itself is treated as though it is simply the coded logic running the universe (or perhaps the sometimes unintentional result of various default configuration options like in a video game - see [[1620: Christmas Settings]]), and that siphoning (rather than being an interesting physical phenomenon worth studying) was nothing more than a bug in the Universe. It has now been fixed, somehow and for some reason, being considered a glitch and not the intended behavior.
-In reality, siphons still {{w|siphon|very much exist}} in our universe [Citation Needed]. Siphons require filling beforehand to function, either by initially actively sucking liquid through or by first immersing the siphon tube in any compatible liquid then ensuring it retains its contents as it draped over the obstacle and each end positioned properly into the respective receptacle, so it is plausible to imagine skeptical people “proving” they do not function by refraining from providing the initial priming. However, the small amount of water in the bottom of the bucket near Megan indicates that there was at least some water in the tube, and that this just ran down on either side, leaving the tube empty and a bit of water in Megan's bucket and a bit more in Cueball's bucket. So they did set up the experiment correctly, but since the latest update siphons do not work anymore. Or as they state it, the universe now works correctly and the siphon bug has been corrected.
+In reality, siphons still {{w|siphon|very much exist}} in our universe. Siphons require filling beforehand to function, either by initially actively sucking liquid through or by first immersing the siphon tube in any compatible liquid then ensuring it retains its contents as it draped over the obstacle and each end positioned properly into the respective receptacle, so it is plausible to imagine skeptical people “proving” they do not function by refraining from providing the initial priming. However, the small amount of water in the bottom of the bucket near Megan indicates that there was at least some water in the tube, and that this just ran down on either side, leaving the tube empty and a bit of water in Megan's bucket and a bit more in Cueball's bucket. So they did set up the experiment correctly, but since the latest update siphons do not work anymore. Or as they state it, the universe now works correctly and the siphon bug has been corrected.
 A siphon requires that the weight of the liquid column on the "higher" side of the channel peak not exceed atmospheric pressure, or else the liquid will split, leaving a {{w|Torricelli's_experiment|partial vacuum}}. The observed failure could be caused by several kinds of changes to the universe. If there was a significant decrease in the ratio between the pressure of Earth's atmosphere and the force of gravity, the siphon would stop working. Eventually, the water in the "lower" side of the tube would dribble out, letting air in, and the water in the "higher" side would also drain back into the reservoir. If the density of water increased enormously, the increased weight of the liquid column would lead to a similar failure. If the molecular cohesion of water decreased drastically and the flow rate of the siphon was slow, air could bubble into the "lower" end more quickly than the water was flowing through, and eventually the tube would empty. The siphon could also fail more mundanely if the water had a lot of gas dissolved in it under pressure (as with soda water), because the gas would come out of solution and collect at the highest point of the tube.