[3] The pump created the highest vacuum achievable at that time, less than 1 μPa (approximately 1×10−11 atm).
[citation needed] Falling mercury drops compress the air to atmospheric pressure which is released when the stream reaches a container at the bottom of the tube.
[citation needed] The speed, simplicity and efficiency of the Sprengel pump made it a popular device with experimenters.
William Ramsay used them to isolate the noble gases, and Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison used them to evacuate their new carbon filament lamps.
[5] Sprengel himself moved on to investigating explosives and was eventually elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society.