You know like the kind that go on a window or bathroom mirror or on the wall or in the shower. They need the atmosphere pushing down on them to work, right?
If by “in space” you mean in zero-G inside a spacecraft, yes. If you mean in a vacuum, no.
So you’re telling me a space octopus would be powerless ?
Other than the fact that it’s an octopus that managed to survive and thrive in outer space, yes.
That’s a really good question. I have a (crappy) vacuum chamber, I’ll give it a go. I suspect they won’t!
I wonder if you would have to stick it while in vacuum for the condition to really be replicated.
Should deflate and fall off while the air is pumped out.
Suction cups aren’t held by the vacuum they created but by the outside air pressing them down.
Correct, they require air pressure to work.
Could work inside a spaceship/station.
Yes. They won’t work because they operate on a difference in air pressure providing a force. No air? No force. Same reason an airplane wing won’t provide lift in the upper atmosphere.
But, compare to a rocket engine that does NOT need an atmosphere to push against.
Phrases I did not expect to think this early in the morning: "what’s the rocket engine of suction cups?”
Velcro, or maybe Van Der Waals force, or maybe whatever the hell makes gauge blocks stick to each other.
I like the gauge block notion. A (quick) search says that it’s a combination of surface tension from the oils they’re coated in, suction (gone for us), and the super flat surfaces slightly exchanging electrons and bonding in close proximity.
I’m a fan of the surface tension angle as the “rocket of suction cups”, since it’s got that “non-binding force” element, where welding or glue feels different, and Velcro feels like a tangle.
It’s “pull-y” where suction is “push-y”.Now the question is would surface tension grab something in a vacuum the way it does outside of one. I know you’d have water sublimate off, so it’s questionable to me.
