Poppet

Okay kiddo, have you ever played with a jack-in-the-box? You know how when you turn the handle, a little toy pops up out of the box? Well, a poppet is kind of like that, but in a different way.

You see, in some machines, there are little valves called poppets that let things in or out. These poppets have a little plug in them that can move up and down like a jack-in-the-box. When the plug is down, it blocks whatever's behind it from getting in or out. But when it moves up, it opens the valve and lets things come through.

So imagine you have a balloon that you want to inflate. You could use a poppet valve to let air from a pump go into the balloon. You would attach the pump to one end of the poppet valve and the balloon to the other end. When you start pumping, the poppet valve plug would move up and allow air to flow into the balloon. Once the balloon was full, you would stop pumping and the plug would move back down, sealing the valve closed so the air couldn't escape.

That's basically how a poppet works. It's just a little valve with a plug that moves up and down like a jack-in-the-box to let things in or out. Pretty cool, huh?