Design Strong Water Pipe: Physics of Milking Smoke

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the design of a custom water pipe, focusing on the physics of making it strong enough to withstand tipping without breaking and understanding the mechanics behind smoke accumulation, referred to as "milking." The scope includes theoretical considerations of forces, material properties, and fluid dynamics.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • The original poster (OP) proposes calculating the center of mass and the torque required to tip the glass to determine the necessary thickness to prevent breakage.
  • The OP expresses uncertainty about how force travels through the glass and why internal components, like percs, often break even when the outer structure remains intact.
  • Some participants suggest that the physics of smoke accumulation is related to pressure differentials and smoke density, but details remain unclear.
  • One participant raises concerns about the legality of discussing water pipes, suggesting that the forum may not consider it an acceptable topic.
  • Another participant humorously notes the initial thread title and its implications, indicating a misunderstanding of the topic's focus.
  • A suggestion is made to test various designs with different dimensions to empirically determine which configurations are most resilient.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the best approach to design the water pipe or the underlying physics. There are multiple viewpoints regarding the feasibility of theoretical calculations versus empirical testing.

Contextual Notes

Participants acknowledge potential legal issues surrounding the topic, which may affect the discussion's scope. There is also uncertainty about the specific physics involved in smoke dynamics and material strength.

waffelcopter
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I'm new here but after a recent break of a brand new piece of glass, I want to design a new one and get it custom made. I have two things that I want for this design: I want the glass to be strong enough that just tipping it over won't break any part of it and I want a light slow suck at the top to pull very strongly on the bowl.

For the first part, I have a reasonable idea of how to do what I want. You would find the center of mass and the amount of force required to tip it over using torque. From there somehow calculate the velocity that it reaches in the fall and calculate the force on it. They I would find the force necessary to break glass in terms of thickness and basically use this to determine the thickness of glass I want. I do know that the thickness of the glass effects the center of mass and thus the force to tip. The other thing I want to know is how the force travels through the glass. For anyone that has no experience in the waterpipe field, it's fairly common for one to be knocked over and while the outside doesn't break, the percs (small glass tubes that are inside of the main tube) often break off.

The second thing I want to try to design it in a way where the smoke will build up in the tube, aka milking. It is very obvious that some pipes do this better than others but I can't seem to figure out the physics behind it. I don't understand the physics that allows this to happen and all I know is that it's related to the pressure differentials between the different percs and the density of the smoke.
 
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You might run into a bit of trouble with this thread. As stupid as it seems, paraphernalia such as bongs are illegal in most of PF's country of origin. They might not consider it an acceptable topic.
 
Danger said:
You might run into a bit of trouble with this thread. As stupid as it seems, paraphernalia such as bongs are illegal in most of PF's country of origin. They might not consider it an acceptable topic.

water pipes are legal if used with tobacco. I have corrected the title and we will assume the OP is using tobacco.
 
It was much more entertaining when the title was 'bong physics'.
 
Yeah, the pooka wants a hooka. Don't use glass.
 
Greg Bernhardt said:
I have corrected the title

LOL. I saw the thread title, and thought, "Oh, maybe I need to move the thread to the ME forum, since it's probably about pumps and water pressure issues in pipes."

And then I clicked into the thread... :-p
 
I suspect this isn't an easily solved problem. I mean calculating the forces involved on different parts of the glass would probably be challenging. A more reliable method might be just to make several with different dimensions and test them to see which break and analyse the failures.
 

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