How to Make a Syphon Without Getting Anything in Your Mouth

Using a syphon (or siphon) is an easy way to move liquid from place to place without using a pump. It relies on the assumption that the liquid you want to move is higher than the location you're moving it to. The liquid will travel uphill, as long as the final destination is lower than the beginning level.

The problem with syphoning things is that there has to be some initial suction to begin the movement of the liquid through a pipe. This usually comes from the Mark I Human Mouth. When using a non-clear pipe you can easily end up with a mouthful of whatever liquid you're trying to move.

Using a couple of readily available household materials, a pair of scissors, and about 2 minutes of time we can avoid this unfortunate situation from happening.

What you'll need
1. A plastic bottle
2. A power cable
3. A pair of scissors

Step 1: Preparing the Pipe (cable)

The first problem with using a power cable as a pipe is all of the pesky wires inside the rubber insulation.

Cut only one end fully off the cable.

Cut through the insulation on the other end of the cable, making sure not to cut through the wires inside.

Stand on the plug (make sure you're wearing shoes) and pull on the insulation. You should start to see bare wires at the plug end, and the insulation should be hollowing out.

All being well you should pull all of the wires through the cable insulation and be left with just the insulation. This is your pipe.

Step 2: Prepare the Container

All you need to do to the bottle is make a hole in the lid using the scissors.

Make sure that the hole is not too big. It should be just a bit narrower than your pipe.

Step 3: Connect the Pieces

Feed the pipe through the bottle cap. You only need to push through a little bit of the pipe.

Screw the cap onto the bottle with the pipe still in the hole.

Step 4: Use Your New Syphon

Your syphon is now complete.

Find some water and put the free end of the pipe into the water.

Squeeze the bottle a bit and some air bubbles should come out of the pipe at the water end.

Make sure the bottom of the bottle is below the water and release your squeeze on the bottle.

As the bottle pops back into shape it creates the initial suction required to start the flow of water.

Once the bottle has regained its shape you may wish to unscrew the cap slightly so that air can get into the bottle. Otherwise the flow of water will slow, and eventually stop. If you don't need to contain the water then you can just unscrew the cap once the flow has begun.

You can now syphon horrible liquids without leaving a bad taste in your mouth.