Can we sip a drink using a straw on the Moon? Explain.

Question

anonymous · Answer

No because the pressure at moon surface is very low

shane_b · Answer

On Earth atmospheric pressure (101kPa) is always present...on the moon, the atmospheric pressure is about 1 trillionth that of Earth.  

When you sip on a straw you're reducing the atmospheric pressure on the liquid which causes it to rise up the straw.  On the moon this would be impossible since there's effectively no atmospheric pressure to begin with.

anonymous · Answer

What about the water pressure from the ball of water kept together by surface tension (of course you couldn't completely take it up, but at least some of it whilst there is enough water)?

anonymous · Answer

how about that low atmospheric pressure, is it not enough? if your going to exert a large amount of force?

anonymous · Answer

The point is, forgetting about water pressure for simplicity, that when the pressure outside>pressure in the mouth, the water moves up to the mouth a little (which in turn increases the mouth pressure, so there has to be a large gradient of pressure for it to totally go up the straw).