How do taps work?

It's not like I want to sound like a complete dunce, but I was lying in bed and the matter of taps arose in my thoughts and I just can't work it out.

As far as I can figure, right, there's an x amount of pressure on the tap, as whatever is trying to pump the water around the house does so. Say the tap in the bathroom up the stairs. Something has to be pressurizing that water to get up there, because water generally flows downwards.

Now, if there's an x amount of water pressure on something, then the smaller the escape hole, the further the water will shoot.
Like a garden hose when you're spraying the plants. If you close off half the hole, the water shoots twice as far...
But, when you open a tap? It drips. It starts dripping and the further you open it, the more water comes out at a faster speed.

Isn't this pretty irregular? What am I missing?

Why must you constantly post things that require so-called "thought"? It's hurt thing-inside-head.

Originally posted by shavixmir
It's not like I want to sound like a complete dunce, but I was lying in bed and the matter of taps arose in my thoughts and I just can't work it out.

As far as I can figure, right, there's an x amount of pressure on the tap, as whatever is trying to pump the water around the house does so. Say the tap in the bathroom up the stairs. Something has to ...[text shortened]... the more water comes out at a faster speed.

Isn't this pretty irregular? What am I missing?

Originally posted by flexmore
just imagine if taps were designed to spurt at first ... the mess in your kitchen and bathroom ... that is the reason they were designed as they are ... sometimes you come across a poorly designed tap that does spurt just a little.

Originally posted by shavixmir
Well, to be perfectly honest, I did presume they made the taps in such a manner and that it wasn't divine intervention that kept them from spurting.

My question, however, has not yet been answered. How do they do it?
No matter how ...[text shortened]... e water should squirt first and then start to flow. Not drip.

A cylinder inside of a circular space that screw around allowing the amount to be controlled. Combine this with the shape of most faucets.

So, basically the pressure is not on the tap itself, but on a resevoir and the tap just screws open into the resevoir?

The faucet :
Most faucets do have a turn just before the water comes out and that turn is there to slow the water down. Unless the faucet is opened for maximum flow, the pressure of the water emerging from the valve part of the faucet is pretty close to atmospheric pressure, so there isn't any need to control that pressure. But the water emerging from the valve may be traveling very fast and it could easily spray across the room if there were nothing in its way. To prevent such sprays, most faucets are bent so that water spraying out of the valve will hit the bend and become turbulent. The turbulence will help it to convert its kinetic energy into thermal energy so that it will emerge from the faucet at low speed and atmospheric pressure. (Great question!--I'd never thought of this before).

The hose:
The water entering the hose has a certain amount of energy per liter. That energy can be in one of three forms: pressure potential energy, gravitational potential energy, or kinetic energy. If you let it flow freely through the hose, most of that energy will become kinetic energy and the water will move quickly through the hose. But it will encounter frictional effects as it slides past the walls of the hose (its viscosity participates here) and it will convert much of its kinetic energy into thermal energy by the time it leaves the hose. However, if you pinch off the flow with your thumb, the water won't be able to convert its energy into kinetic form as it enters the hose. Most of the energy will remain as pressure potential energy. The water will move slowly through the hose and it will experience relatively little energy loss to frictional effects. Most of the energy will remain by the time the water reaches your thumb. Then, as the water flows past your thumb to the outside air, its pressure will drop suddenly and its energy will become kinetic energy. The water will spray out at very high speed.

I hope that about clears it up, thank you for your interest in this subjct.

Nyxie

Originally posted by Nyxie
The faucet :
Most faucets do have a turn just before the water comes out and that turn is there to slow the water down. Unless the faucet is opened for maximum flow, the pressure of the water emerging from the valve part of the faucet is pretty close to atmospheric pressure, so there isn't any need to control that pressure. But the water emerging from the va ...[text shortened]... h speed.

I hope that about clears it up, thank you for your interest in this subjct.

Nyxie

Originally posted by flexmore
just one question ... what is a faucet?

my tap works like this i turn it one way and water comes out turn it the other way it stops. similar to my electric i flck the switch and on it comes flick it back and off it goes. do not know of the pressure in this but my moves are pressure.

Here is a tried and tested method of figuring out how something works. I have been using it (much to the dismay of my parents) since I was about six years old.
Take a screwdriver...

Originally posted by Varg
Here is a tried and tested method of figuring out how something works. I have been using it (much to the dismay of my parents) since I was about six years old.
Take a screwdriver...

Originally posted by XanthosNZ
That method doesn't work with living things very well.

Originally posted by flexmore
not with taps either ... a spanner is better.