Air | Lock

In engineering, an air lock is a chamber that allows people or objects to pass between areas of different air pressures without significantly changing the pressure of either environment.

Related resources for this article ... Courtesy of Elgood-Mayo Corp., Lancaster, Pa. Courtesy of Elgood-Mayo Corp., Lancaster, Pa. Britannica Kids air lock

: Air can enter a system during maintenance, pump restarts, or through dissolution in the liquid itself. air lock - Students | Britannica Kids | Homework Help In engineering, an air lock is a chamber

: It can lead to sputtering faucets, no water flow in gravity-fed systems, or the failure of pumps that rely on liquid for lubrication. Courtesy of Elgood-Mayo Corp

: Pharmaceutical facilities use them to prevent contamination by maintaining a pressure cascade between rooms. 2. Fluid Blockage (Plumbing & Irrigation)

: Vital for space vehicles, allowing astronauts to exit for spacewalks while keeping the cabin pressurized.

An is a device or physical phenomenon involving trapped air that regulates passage between different pressures or blocks the flow of liquids . Depending on the field—whether aerospace, plumbing, or medicine—an "air lock" serves very different purposes. 1. Pressure Regulation (Engineering & Aerospace)