In the Toilet

This activity explores the basic workings of a siphon, which is the core technology that makes toilets work. The heart of the lesson plan is a simple demonstration of a siphon and how it works: use a hose to move water between two buckets on two different levels. The lesson plan suggests several extension activities including giving learners cups, tubing and water, and inviting them to experiment with different siphon arrangements to see how water behaves. The lesson also has information about the physics of siphons, including a comparison of siphons (which work based on gravity) and drinking straws (which work based on air pressure differences). [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org.]