How the Physics of Nothing Underlies Everything
I&#x27;m in the mood to nitpick:<p>&gt; In a theatrical demonstration in 1654, he showed that not even two teams of horses straining to rip apart the watermelon-size ball could overcome the suction of nothing.<p>In fact, there is an addendum saying the article originally said grapefruit, then updated it to watermelon.<p>Say the watermelon had a diameter of 10 inches, or a cross section of 78.5 sq in. Atmospheric pressure is 14 psi. The force of the vacuum would be 78*14, so 1100 lbs. Impressive, but it seems like a horse could possibly generate that much instantaneous pull.<p>This site [0] says horses can pull six times their body weight for short pulls! That leads me to believe the sphere was bigger than a watermelon, and in fact, the drawing of the affair shows a sphere about the size of a beach ball.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;horserookie.com&#x2F;how-much-weight-can-a-horse-pull&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;horserookie.com&#x2F;how-much-weight-can-a-horse-pull&#x2F;</a>