Book 3, Question 145
Why Does a Vacuum Cleaner Suck?
A vacuum cleaner doesn't really drink up dirt. A fan pushes air out of the machine, so outside air rushes in. And the crumbs ride that incoming wind!
From the book
Page from A Million Whys Book 3
More fun facts
- Before vacuums, people cleaned rugs by hanging them outside and beating out the dust with a paddle called a carpet beater.
- Carpet sweepers that picked up dirt without a motor appeared in the 1860s.
- One early motor-powered cleaner did the opposite of sucking. It blasted dust out of carpets with jets of air.
- An inventor named Booth asked why the machine didn't suck out the dust instead, and he patented his own early vacuum in 1901.
- Making suction was a real mechanical challenge, and Booth's machines became the talk of the town.
- The fan blades in some vacuum cleaners spin up to 18,000 times a minute, faster than those in a jet engine.
Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, NASA
Questions kids ask
How did people clean rugs before vacuums?
They hung rugs outside and beat the dust out with a paddle called a carpet beater.