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JimmyTheBones t1_j691to0 wrote

Reply to comment by OpenPlex in ELI5: why can't we use electricity to kill microorganisms in small amount of water ? by FreshT3ch

Imagine it more as water flowing downhill. Small horizontal distance, not too much change in gravitational potential energy, but from the top of a mountain to the bottom there's a huge difference there.

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OpenPlex t1_j697mrn wrote

Doesn't make sense in the context of one horse's leg to another. (vs the distance from one human leg to another being a lower pressure)

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JimmyTheBones t1_j699a6q wrote

So imagine the horizontal distance, not the diagonal distance.

The front foot is the equivalent of the top of a river up a mountain, and the back foot is the equivalent of the estuary at sea level.

The human's horizontal foot distance is much less, so there is a much smaller difference between the potential from one foot to the other.

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