How does a vacuum cleaner work? Does the vacuum created draw dirt into the vacuum cleaner?
Vacuum cleaners do not create a vacuum but create an area of lower pressure inside the vacuum cleaner than the atmospheric pressure outside, usually using some kind of electrically powered fan. This pressure difference causes air to be pushed into the cleaner, through the inlet, by the greater atmospheric pressure ouside the cleaner. Light, loose particles, (such as grains of soil or dust) will be carried into the cleaner by the passage of air. So no, the vacuum does not draw dirt into the vacuum cleaner because (a) there is no vacuum, there is still a positive pressure inside the cleaner, and (b) because the dirt is carried in by the passage of air which is really pushed in by the atmospheric pressure outside the cleaner rather than pulled in by the lower pressure inside the cleaner.
