section_path: Scientific contributions/Physics/Water pump
section_name: Water pump
paragraph_text: Water pump
  
  By the 17th century, water pump designs had improved to the point that they produced measurable vacuums, but this was not immediately understood. What was known was that suction pumps could not pull water beyond a certain height: 18 Florentine yards according to a measurement taken around 1635, or about 34 feet (10 m). This limit was a concern in irrigation projects, mine drainage, and decorative water fountains planned by the Duke of Tuscany, so the duke commissioned Galileo to investigate the problem. In his Two New Sciences (1638) Galileo suggested, incorrectly, that the column of water pulled up by a water pump would break of its own weight once reaching beyond 34 feet.