# the whole spaghetti sucking thing **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 12, 2000, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-spaghetti-sucking-thing/854 "2000-03-12T08:34:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phaath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ad7895/32.png) [@Phaath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phaath)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2000, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-spaghetti-sucking-thing/854/1 "2000-03-12T08:34:00Z")
alright i dont know if this has been resolved yet i cant seem to find it but maybe it has, the question about how one can suck spaghetti. it has to be air pressure, the most glaring argument against this was spaghetti is limp so there for it couldnt be pushed into your mouth. but lest we forget that air pressure pushes from all directions at all angles to the surface. when the pressure is the same surrounding the pasta it cant move but if the pressure is lowered at one end the pressure vectors pushing at an angle away from the mouth would be out numbered by the vectors pushing at even the slightest angle toward the mouth there for even though the spaghetti is limp it can still be sucked… ps its the same as trying to plug a whole in the space shuttle with a big piece of gum … sorta any questions or arguments email me. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2000, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-spaghetti-sucking-thing/854/2 "2000-03-12T12:02:00Z")
Here’s the column [, and the previous topic: [url=]The Spaghetti Incident?](]How does one suck in a piece of spaghetti?[/url). I’d say the jury is still out, between air pressure and entrainment, but Irishman cast his ballot for air pressure. * * * rocks ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-spaghetti-sucking-thing/854/3 "2000-03-13T04:02:00Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/970314.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/970314.html) [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/970214.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/970214.html) ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-spaghetti-sucking-thing/854/4 "2000-03-13T04:51:00Z")
I guess I don’t understand what some people don’t understand about spaghetti sucking. The air exerts a force around the outer surface of the spaghetti, except there’s less force at the cross-section where it meets your lips. If the spaghetti were simply lying on a plate, the sum (integral) of all the air pressure aound it cancels out, obviously, because the spaghetti doesn’t move. When you suck on it, those forces are still there, everywhere except where it goes into your lips. There’s a reduced force at that small surface compared to when it was sitting still. F=ma. QED. What more is there? This seems to be pretty much the same problem, but in reverse, of why a loose firehose will dance around. And it seems like the same problem as Feynman’s water sprinkler, which should turn in reverse. Of course, _everybody_ agrees on that one. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-spaghetti-sucking-thing/854/5 "2000-03-13T05:49:00Z")
Thanks Jill I don’t know how I did that. [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4\_184.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_184.html)[http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000377.html](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000377.html) * * * rocks ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-spaghetti-sucking-thing/854/6 "2000-03-13T13:31:00Z")
As long as CurtC is bringing up other controversies, is cooked spaghetti a solid or a liquid? * * * _It is too clear, and so it is hard to see._ ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2000, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-spaghetti-sucking-thing/854/7 "2000-03-13T22:07:00Z")
It’s a glass. (Ha ha ha!) Seriously it’s a solid. And spaghetti is sucked by pressure. Test it yourself. Get a plate of noodles and do some sucking. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2000, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-spaghetti-sucking-thing/854/8 "2000-03-14T15:34:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Irishman: > **And spaghetti is sucked by pressure. Test it yourself. Get a plate of noodles and do some sucking.** I have, but the test is inconclusive. Still needs more testing. * * * rocks ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2000, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-spaghetti-sucking-thing/854/9 "2000-03-14T16:43:00Z")
I guess that means you don’t suck enough. 😉 Or maybe I suck too much? ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2000, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-spaghetti-sucking-thing/854/10 "2000-03-14T17:35:00Z")
Hey! Hey! Watch it. I just haven’t sucked enough spaghetti enough. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2000, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-spaghetti-sucking-thing/854/11 "2000-03-14T22:24:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I guess I don’t understand what some people don’t understand about spaghetti sucking. The air exerts a force around the outer surface of the spaghetti, except there’s less force at the cross-section where it meets your lips. I think what people get hung up on is that they think of pressure acting only at the interface between the air and the spaghetti. Then they try to figure out where to push to get it in their mouth, and nowhere makes any sense. ## If you realize that pressure exists throughout the spaghetti, it’s not hard to visualize a pressure drop through the lips into the mouth. _It is too clear, and so it is hard to see._ ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-spaghetti-sucking-thing/854/12 "2000-03-21T06:58:00Z")
When dealing with the type of people who simply can’t comprehend that kind of physics (and are argumentative about it) I simply suggest that they try it with uncooked spaghetti (which, to the unwary, can be painful the first time) Then when they protest that cooked spaghetti is ‘squishy’ [for such is their accustomed vocabulary], I tell them: “You want different laws for cooked and uncooked spaghetti? NOW who’s getting technical? Boy, I’m sure glad _you_ weren’t God or I’d have never finished physics!” I call this “reasoning by graduation”, and for some reason, it seems to make more sense to them than more rational arguments (including my personal favorite “Well, air is even squishier… you telling me you can’t figure out how to inhale?”] ---
**Author:** ![KarmaComa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KarmaComa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarmaComa)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2000, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-spaghetti-sucking-thing/854/13 "2000-03-20T20:34:00Z")
the only practical difference in this case between cooked spaghetti and raw spaghetti is the fact that cooked spag is less than slick. the argument about why you can’t push a piece of spaghetti into your mouth is silly. to test whether or not you can push spaghetti with pressure as well as pulling it, suck up a piece of spaghetti. now blow it out. mystery solved. people don’t realize how much pressure difference can be made on either side of your lips. if one were to test this by putting extreme pressure outside one’s head, not only would it hurt immensely, but the pressure would probably equalize itself through the nose, were the subject not careful. answer = air pressure. i don’t know why any physicist really had trouble with this.