Help finding method to suck water up tube for physics experiment

[Theh]

Hey guys! I'm doing an at home experiment for my physics degree due to covid restrictions, and I need to suck water up a straight vertical tube. I'm not a super practical person and I've been racking my brain for ages to find a nice cheap solution, and then it occurred to me that water cooling enthusiasts might have some experience/ideas on this.

 

Let me describe the problem in detail. The bigger picture is that I want to put a vertical tube in a tank, draw water up the tube, then release the water so that it drops back down the tube and oscillates up and down within the tube. What I need to figure out is a cheap and simple way to draw the fluid up the tube initially.

 

The tube must be rigid, straight, and transparent. The tube will be about 1m in length, and I would like to be able to draw the fluid nearly to the top but not all the way to the top where it'd overflow. I must be able to draw the fluid slowly enough that I could precisely set the height anywhere on the tube. The tube diameter is not yet decided, but I would be happy to use standard sized pipes and fittings, ideally a tube between 0.5-2cm in diameter would be good (but I'm flexible on this). I was thinking that I'd need to put a valve on the top of the tube then use a suction pump to draw water up the tube, then seal the valve, and when I'm ready to drop the fluid, quickly open the valve again. It would be a bonus (really not necessary if it's not very easy to incorporate) if I could get an accurate pressure measurement of the air inside the tube before I drop the fluid. Also, once I open the valve I don't want it to restrict air flow too much as this would stop the fluid falling freely. I want the pressure in the tube to near instantly reach atmospheric pressure after opening the valve.

I'd like to achieve all this for under £50 (ideally quite a bit less than that). I'm in the UK, so please could you recommend parts that I'd be able to get here, and I'm not limited to buying PC water cooling parts, literally anything that will do the job is fine!

 

I'd be really grateful for any advice, parts recommendations, alternative methods, etc.

 

(I suppose one alternative method is that I could pump water into the bottom of the tube then seal it with a valve at the top and remove the pump apparatus from the bottom of the tube before opening the valve again.

I am aware I could also lower the tube into the tank, seal it, then lift it up, but this isn't viable for me as I won't have a deep enough tank to be able to get the water far enough up the tube.)

[LWM723]

And what exactly is the intended purpose of this? Tubing (1" clear) and tanks, pumps, valves can be found anywhere aquariums are sold

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Custom Loop and Exotic Cooling

[MaratM]

Any watercooling pump is not good for you cause it needs water inside it to pump. As you described you need a vacuum pump. The cheapest way is to use a manual bysicle pump with its valve installed the wrong way so it sucks the air in instead of pumping it out