- #1
The Physics of Pneumatic Office Chairs and Soap Bottles
- Context: Undergrad
- Thread starter wavingerwin
- Start date
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- Tags
- Hydraulics
Click For Summary
Discussion Overview
The discussion explores the mechanics of pneumatic office chairs and the operation of soap bottles, focusing on the physics and mechanics involved in their functionality. It includes questions about the principles behind these everyday objects and how they operate under pressure and weight.
Discussion Character
- Exploratory
- Technical explanation
- Conceptual clarification
Main Points Raised
- One participant questions the physics of hydraulics in office chairs and seeks to understand the mechanics involved when the trigger is pulled.
- Another participant distinguishes between physics and mechanics, suggesting that the inquiry is more about mechanical applications than theoretical physics.
- A participant describes the mechanism of pneumatic chairs, explaining that they consist of an air-filled cylinder and a spring, detailing how weight affects the chair's height.
- There is a correction regarding terminology, with a participant noting that the chairs are pneumatic, not hydraulic.
- In discussing soap bottles, a participant proposes that the mechanism involves air pressure, suggesting that the bottle is airtight when the lid is pushed, allowing soap to escape, and that air replaces the soap when the lid is released.
Areas of Agreement / Disagreement
Participants express differing views on the classification of the inquiry as physics versus mechanics, and there is no consensus on the terminology used to describe the mechanisms involved in both the office chairs and soap bottles.
Contextual Notes
Some assumptions about the airtight nature of soap bottles and the specific mechanics of pneumatic systems are not fully explored or defined, leaving room for further clarification.
- #2
TheDestroyer
- 401
- 1
LoL, cool question :). I guess it's not physics as much of being "mechanics", because physics deals with concepts, mechanics deals with applications.
If you're going to ask a question about physics, it should be explained by equations or something like that. The answer in physics won't be as "when you press the thing it pulls something else that causes the release of ... bla bla bla", this is not physics, again, this is mechanics.
Sorry if I'm disappointing you :)
Good luck :)
If you're going to ask a question about physics, it should be explained by equations or something like that. The answer in physics won't be as "when you press the thing it pulls something else that causes the release of ... bla bla bla", this is not physics, again, this is mechanics.
Sorry if I'm disappointing you :)
Good luck :)
- #3
russ_watters
Mentor
- 23,829
- 11,305
It's an air filled cylinder and a spring. When you sit on it and pull the trigger, you let the air out and it falls. When you take your weight off it and pull the trigger, the spring pushes it up.
- #4
xxChrisxx
- 2,056
- 85
Chairs use gases so its technically pneumatic not hydraulic. 
- #5
wavingerwin
- 93
- 0
Hmm, of course. How did I not figure this before...
Thanks! i love technical stuff
And with the case of soap bottle,
Does it spits soap because when we push the lid, the bottle is airtight, and the soap will escape from the tube. Due to pressure etc..
And the bottle is somehow not airtight as soon as the lid comes back up. So instead of the soap coming back to the bottom of the bottle to fill the 'emptiness', air does.
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