Physics Experiments: Capillary Bowl

Simon really wanted to try building a capillary bowl – a version of a perpetual motion machine in which water circulates. Although aware of the fact that perpetual motion was not possible, he is keen on seeing it for himself. Off we were to the hardware store where we got some funnels and hoses. What we observed was Pascal’s law in action: the level of water evened out and there was no way to get the water rise higher at one end of the hose than at the other and thus no way to get the water flow into the funnel.

Eventually, we did manage to get the capillary bowl to work for a split second when we filled it with coke and beer. The pressure of water is higher than that of foam, because liquid has a higher density than foam. We used alcohol free beer, so there wasn’t that much foam.

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