Thank Guericke for Vacuum Pumps

In the mid 1600s, a German mayor of a small town performed a trick using 2 metal half-spheres and a team of sixteen horses to entertain some houseguests. It was the first time he put his invention-a piston and air gun cylinder with two-way flaps designed to pull air out of whatever vessel it was connected to-to use in front of other people. The mayor, named Otto von Guericke, joined the two copper hemispheres together and pumped the air out using his contraption. He then harnessed eight horses to each half. The result? An astonished audience, completely inseparable copper hemispheres and the very first demonstration of a vacuum pump. It didn't take long for this trick to gain popularity, and Guericke began performing in the German court with more and more horses. The power of a vacuum quickly caught the eye of scientists, who began using vacuum pumps to study properties of gasses and electricity. Today, you'd be hard pressed to find a single industrial factory or experimentation facility that doesn't use a vacuum pump. Continue reading →