No Suction, No Problem
Physics is happening everywhere, including in your dog’s water bowl. Dogs and cats actually use the same unique way to drink and it's quite a process. Dogs can’t create suction in their mouths which means they can’t drink water the same way we do. I decided to take a slo-mo video of my dog drinking water so that I could show the physics present in an everyday occurrence. The first thing I examined was that my dog curled her tongue under and scooped the water from the bowl. At the same time, she slapped the water in order to displace it into her mouth. When the water was displaced and the tongue was quickly retracted, water was pulled into my dog's mouth by inertia. The law of inertia states that an object remains at rest until acted upon by an unbalanced force, which makes sense in this case. The water was at rest until acted upon by an outside force, the dog’s tongue. That is also why dog's make such a mess when they are drinking water. Not all the water that is displaced goes into the dog's mouth, most of it ends up on the floor instead. The last step I examined was she very quickly closed her mouth before gravity started to pull the water back towards earth. It's amazing to think that physics is present in daily tasks that you would never even think of!
Bridie Looney
Description
Essay Title: No Suction, No Problem
Category: Contrived
Photo Number: 6219
School: Dedham High School
Teacher Name: Amanda Harnden