The self-filling siphon, and why can't it be done?

[broli]

Coincidently I had two types of tubes laying around. One is double the diameter of the other. I stuck the small one in the big one and started the experiment.

Unfortunately the results aren't positive. It will siphon when the outlet is below the water level in the reservoir but once it's above it the siphon action stops and the water rushes back to the tank. There's no question about being more water on the down side. As I made sure the connection of the tubes is at the highest point.

Below you see the setup and the position of the outlet where the siphon action takes place.

[Nabo00o]

Bah, oh well I was afraid it would be like that, even if I don't know what is causing it!
You are sure that the thickness of the outlet pipe didn't allow air bubbles to go in?
Probably this isn't the case, so there is something else going on here, but I wonder what...
Btw, in that picture the outlet pipe isn't perfectly vertical, this could at least cause minor problems...

Naboo

[broli]

Bah, oh well I was afraid it would be like that, even if I don't know what is causing it!
You are sure that the thickness of the outlet pipe didn't allow air bubbles to go in?
Probably this isn't the case, so there is something else going on here, but I wonder what...
Btw, in that picture the outlet pipe isn't perfectly vertical, this could at least cause minor problems...

Naboo

The experiment was pretty controlled. The pipe on one side held at least 190+% more water, so there's no question about more water in the bigger tube. And There was no air since I started from a siphon location and gradually moved the pipes up so the outlet was above the water level. But once I reached the water level the siphon action stopped and the remaining water rushed back to the reservoir.

I encourage you to perform this experiment yourself as its simple and you can see what happens for yourself.

[Nabo00o]

Well I have tried it now and got the same results as you, actually I also tried a while ago before I started this tread but I believed that something else was giving the bad results. Seem like the idea of disproportional weights in a siphon isn't that easy after all to initiate. So, as best we can tell hydrostatics seems to be all-prevailing law in siphoning as well, but maybe we can learn from this.

I'm not ready to give up this topic yet because we also discussed capillary action here, and maybe it does have the potential to unlock the secrets of unlimited flow, against gravity. Maybe there could be a way to combine siphoning with capillary action, maybe that was the secret the Russians used. I want to know more about that!

Also, the user craZy reported some very interesting results with his experimentation. If this actually happened I do believe this needs to be investigated more throughly...

Naboo

[sm0ky2]

hmm......