High School Question about the nature of an implosion of a vacuum chamber

[fizzchem]

TL;DR

I work as a chemist with practically zero physics education, so apologies in advance, but this question about implosion popped into my head this morning ;)

Can the implosion of a vacuum chamber (for example) be thought of in terms of an external force (atmosphere) acting upon the chamber walls, or is the material of the chamber wall itself that which applies the force?

 

[Baluncore]

Welcome to PF.

The atmospheric pressure applies the external force to the chamber.
Initially, the walls of the chamber equally oppose the external force.
When the chamber wall fails, the unbalanced forces accelerate the wall towards the vacuum.
If the wall fragments, those fragments pass into and collide within the volume, or continue outwards on the other side.

 

[sophiecentaur]

TL;DR Summary: I work as a chemist with practically zero physics education, so apologies in advance, but this question about implosion popped into my head this morning ;)

Can the implosion of a vacuum chamber (for example) be thought of in terms of an external force (atmosphere) acting upon the chamber walls, or is the material of the chamber wall itself that which applies the force?

Remember, there's no such thing as suck so a very deep vacuum will impose very little extra stress on the chamber than for a moderate one. Leakage will increase pro rata but the chamber walls should have been mad with plenty of strength in hand. if a vacuum chamber implodes then someone should be getting the sack.

The force must start with the external pressure and pass through the distorting canister to compress the gas inside. The canister will always compress a small amount for any increase in the differential pressure but when the limiting strength of the walls is reached, you can get a implosion. Equilibrium will arise when the inner and outer pressures are the same. In a catastrophic event there would be some oscillation at the end of the implosion.