PARIS pops down to QinetiQ

Vital hypobaric chamber test proves... interesting

On hand was QinetiQ's Chas Taylor, to pile on the (low) pressure:

Sadly, as the pressure dropped inside the chamber at a rate equivalent to ascending 1,000 feet per minute, the syringe plunger budged not one millimetre, which didn't to our minds make much sense. Our initial suspicion was that perhaps there was too little air (10cc) to provide necessary expansion to overcome the "stiction" (official QinetiQ boffin term) of the plunger.

Accordingly, Chas and colleague Tim D'Oyly (left) plugged in a bigger reservoir: