Water finds its own level - most of the time! But in this outing to the Scarborough Town Centre, we create a truly bizarre phenomenon in which water will not flow through a very large opening, even though there is a large column of water piled above it.

Best of all, each of these demonstrations are easy to try yourself.

The same fundamental principle is at work in each of them. Water flows downhill under the force of gravity, but just like anything else that moves, the flow of water is governed by ALL the forces acting upon it. For example, a force acting on flowing water is friction between the water and the surface with which it is in contact.

We introduce yet another force in each of these demonstrations - the force exerted by the pressure of the atmosphere, or more properly, a difference in air pressure across a distance. Differential air pressure can produce considerable force and in each of these demonstrations, that force is acting in the opposite direction to that of the flowing water. If the two forces balance, then nothing moves! And it's those balanced forces that allow the water to apparently defy gravity!