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Early Islamic scientists over a thousand years had patrons with a huge
interest in many kinds of novelty 'trick vessels', which included hidden
internal siphons among other fascinating features. Appearing to change water
into wine was just one of many counter-intuitive ways these things were
designed to baffle and amaze. I like to think that they were the world's
first interactive science exhibits.

At the same time they were developing sophisticated water pumps at all
levels of scale and complexity, including multi-cylinder piston pumps with
an uncanny resemblance to a modern automobile engine.

Promoting public engagement with science
through a contagious delight in phenomena
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Give people facts and you feed their minds for an hour.
Awaken curiosity and they feed their own minds for a lifetime.
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Ian Russell   (Twitter: ianrusselluk)


-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of jason jay stevens
Sent: 11 January 2010 18:45
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: siphons and water pumps

ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
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The clepsydra is supposedly an invention of the ancient Greeks, the  
development of which might be related to the siphon.  The underlying  
physics are the same.  The phenomenon is repeatedly re-discovered by  
kids anywhere playing with a soda straws.

I looked up "clepsydra" on wikipedia and Ha! there's little more than  
a quotation from Carl Sagan's Cosmos, which is where I learned about  
it, several decades ago.  You'll have to take it from there.

--Jason

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JasonJayStevens
JasonJayStevensStudio
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www.potterbelmar.org/jjss
536 Roosevelt Avenue
San Antonio, Texas 78210
210.364.6305




On Jan 11, 2010, at 12:22 PM, Natasha Aristov wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
> institutions.
> ********************************************************************** 
> *******
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> Does anyone know the theories about how siphoning was discovered?   
> What were the first hoses?  It seems to me that intestines wouldn't  
> work for siphoning,  but I'm a vegetarian chemist and have never  
> actually had an intestine in my hand, well I guess I have, back in  
> my meat-eating days, but the things they put sausages in don't seem  
> stable enough for a siphon.  Were reeds really the first hoses/pipes?
>
> And a related question:  how, do people think, a pump spray  
> mechanism was invented/discovered?  I guess it's the same principle  
> as the ground water pump.  Archimedes' screw is ingenious, but  
> simple-minded in comparison, isn't it?  ( I mean one of these  
> things: http://techalive.mtu.edu/meec/module06/title.htm )
>
> Unrelated to this, but another thing I'm working on:  the shape of  
> amphorae.  I can think of a number of reasons why they were made to  
> not stand up by themselves, but I'm wondering if anyone's come  
> across real scholarly work instead of just educated guesses.
>
> Thanks very much for any enlightenment!
>
> Natasha
>
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