Heavy Liquid Moves Light: Water and Air in an Inverted Vessel
An experiment showing water driving air upward, with the argument that nature allows no vacuum
The right half of the sheet carries text on a physics experiment: a closed vessel c d holds water in c and air in d, and when the vessel is turned over the air departs from d and rises to point b while the water descends. Leonardo reasons that the two powers contend because nature allows no vacuum, and that among liquids the lighter always stands above the heavier; he speaks of the heaviness and lightness being "awakened" as if roused from sleep. A shaded drawing of the tube-like vessel stands beside the text. The upper part of the sheet also bears freely drawn geometry—a semicircle divided into radiating wedges at upper left and again at upper right—together with a pencilled spiral and a small wheel, none of which is covered by the transcription.
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The inverted vessel of water and air (c, d, a, b)
In the vessel of water and air c d, the air a was in d and the water in c while the vessel stood upside down; on turning it over, the air departed from d and rose to the site b. Here two powers contend, for the water wishes to descend and the air to rise, and the one cannot be without the other.
Nature allows no vacuum; the lighter stays above the heavier
This happens because nature does not allow a vacuum, and among liquids the lighter stands above the heavier. If by accident the lighter lies beneath the heavier, the heavy one recovers the weight that was annulled, when it was neither heavy nor light. The cause of the motion is the rousing of the heavy and the light that lay sleeping in them; and no element has heaviness or lightness within its own sphere.
Lateral water confines the rising air in an oval figure
The water lying above the air has weight while the water beneath the air has none. The lateral water that clothes the air has more weight than that above the middle of the air, because it is of greater length and because it confines the air within itself in an oval figure, giving exit to the air's rising.
Sector diagrams and spiral sketched at the head of the sheet
A semicircle subdivided into radiating wedges is drawn at the upper left, and a similar segmented figure at the upper right. A freely drawn spiral and a small spoked wheel appear at the left. These sketches are not addressed by the transcribed text.