Elbow (piping)

An elbow in piping is like the bendy part of a straw. Imagine you're drinking a milkshake with a long straw, and you want to bend it so you can reach the bottom of the cup. That bendy part of the straw is like an elbow in piping.

In pipes, elbows are used to change the direction of the flow of a liquid or gas. Just like you can't drink your milkshake through a straight straw that's not long enough to reach the bottom of your cup, you can't make a liquid or gas flow through a pipe if it's not pointed in the right direction.

So, if you need to move a liquid or gas from one place to another, but there's an obstacle in the way, you can use an elbow to go around it. For example, if you need to bring water from a well to your house, but there's a big rock in the way, you could use an elbow in the piping to go around the rock and still get the water to your house.

Elbows can come in different shapes and sizes, just like straws. Some elbows have a very sharp bend, like you might make in a bendy straw to make a loop, while others have a gentle curve, like you might make in a bendy straw to make a slight angle. The shape of the elbow depends on how much the pipe needs to be bent to get around an obstacle, or to change the direction of flow.

So, in summary, an elbow in piping is the bendy part of a pipe that helps change the direction of the flow of liquid or gas, just like a bendy straw helps you get to the bottom of your milkshake.