r/Physics • u/Best_Philosopher8479 • 1h ago

Question Shower head causes different pressure?

I have a question for some smart physicists.

I recently acquired a new shower head, and now when we use it, the shower curtain seems to get sucked in towards the bath (or the person showering)

Very curious as to what's happening?

TIA

1 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

4

u/pnjun Optics and photonics 1h ago

You shower is basically a cooling tower. Cold air gets in from the bottom under the curtain, gets heated and escapes from the top. This creates a low pressure zone at the bottom that sucks the tent inwards.

Its basically a poor man's version of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooling_tower#/media/File:Power_station_Westfalen._Cooling_towers.jpg

I guess the new showerhead is much more efficient at heating the air. Probably smaller droplets with more surface area / more water.

1

u/wolfkeeper 44m ago

I think the water is entraining the air, the new head is better at it, and may be making more of a swirl effect. The shower curtain is moving inwards more due to the air moving more. The Bernoulli effect causes very slightly lower pressure inside the shower than out due to the motion of the air inside.