Solution to the long-standing puzzle of Huygens' ``anomalous suspension'' (Q2347249)

Torricelli showed that if a tube shorter than 72 cm is filled with mercury, sealed, and subsequently inverted and put into a bowl of mercury, when the seal is removed the mercury remains in the tube. Torricelli argued that the atmospheric pressure keeps the mercury in its place. In 1662, Huygens, using water instead of mercury and a four-foot tube, inserted the Torricelli set up in a space that he pulled vacuum by means of an air pump. He discovered that, contrary to his expectations, the water remained suspended. This is the ``anomalous suspension''. Hooke and Boyle had done the same thing. However, in their experiments the water column fell. The author argues that Huygens had boiled the water and Boyle and Hooke had not. The early air pumps were not powerful enough to create enough vacuum to make Huygens water column fall. In the experiments of Boyle and Hooke, the unboiled water contained air which escaped and pushed their water columns down.