(We keep our dish soap on the counter, in a small pump bottle to meter out doses, and to use less counter space.)
So I go into the kitchen to catch up on some dishwashing, and find a small puddle of goo on the counter. “Is the barometric pressure dropping?” I ask the family as I sponge it up, and proceed to do my washing-up.
“It’s supposed to snow on Sunday,” answers my son-in-law.
Well, that explains a lot. Firstly, the reason the soap has drooled onto the counter is because the barometric pressure outside the bottle is now lower than inside the bottle. (I filled and re-sealed it a couple days ago.) The fluid seeps out because fluids go from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure.*
Out of typical insatiable curiosity (“More input!”), I then check out my local weather data site. This explains the second question. No wonder I have a headache; the barometric pressure has dropped about 15 millibars in the past day, from the general maxima down to the general minima. Barometric pressure hoo-hahs are one of my headache/migraine triggers.
Sometimes I wish I lived on the space station, where the air pressure is kept constant. (Besides, I could grow my veggies, herbs and flowers without all the dang pests.)
* AKA “Why do we have to learn this stuff?” Well, now you know — no one squeezed dish soap onto the counter and left a mess; it happened because of natural forces.
