The drinking straw is a device used for sucking up a liquid. A thin tube of plastic (especially polystyrene) or other material, straight or with an accordion-like living hinge, it is employed by being held with one end in the mouth and another end in the drink. Muscular action reduces air pressure in the mouth, whereupon atmospheric pressure forces the drink up the straw. The first straw was made in 1886 and used a year later for the first time in the first Wimpy bar in London.

Drinking straws are also frequently used as sample holders for SQUID magnetometers.

Some straws are bendable for convenience sake. There are also hard plastic straws for children; these straws are often bent into curves and loops for fun drinking.

It is possible to make some straws into wind instruments by cutting holes in them as finger holes and cutting a reed in a certain way so it makes a strange noise. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_straw"