Pipe vs. Tube: Know the Difference
By Shumaila Saeed || Updated on December 25, 2023
Pipes are typically used for transporting fluids or gases and are measured by their internal diameter, whereas tubes are often used in structural applications and are measured by their outside diameter.
Key Differences
Pipes are primarily used for transporting liquids and gases. Their design focuses on the internal diameter (ID) because it determines the flow capacity. On the other hand, tubes are used in structural applications, like in construction and manufacturing. Tubes are measured by their outside diameter (OD), which is crucial for ensuring strength and stability in their applications.
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Nov 16, 2023
The material thickness in pipes, known as the schedule, is important for determining the pressure rating. Pipes usually have thicker walls compared to tubes of the same diameter, enhancing their ability to handle high-pressure applications. Tubes, however, have a consistent wall thickness and are often selected based on their dimensional accuracy and strength, making them ideal for precision applications.
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Nov 16, 2023
Pipes are often joined through fittings and are a key component in various plumbing and infrastructure systems. They are generally more flexible in terms of sizes and materials. Tubes, in contrast, are used in applications where precise dimensions and tolerances are critical, like in automotive or aerospace manufacturing, and often require more specialized joining methods like welding.
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Nov 16, 2023
The manufacturing process for pipes and tubes also differs. Pipes are usually made using a process that ensures reliability in carrying fluids under pressure. Tubes, however, require more rigorous manufacturing processes to achieve the precision needed for their structural and mechanical applications.
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Nov 16, 2023
In terms of shape, pipes are generally round, but tubes can come in various shapes like square, rectangular, or custom profiles. This versatility makes tubes ideal for a wide range of structural applications, whereas pipes are mainly used for their functional purpose of conveying fluids.
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Nov 16, 2023
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Comparison Chart
Primary Use
Transporting fluids and gases
Structural and mechanical applications
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Material Variety
Wide range, flexible in material choice
More specific, often requires stronger metals
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Manufacturing Process
Designed for pressure resistance
Precision-focused for structural strength
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Joining Methods
Uses fittings, more flexible
Often requires welding, precision joining
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Application in Industries
Plumbing, infrastructure, oil and gas
Construction, automotive, aerospace
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Tolerance and Precision
Less critical compared to tubes
Highly critical for specific applications
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Flexibility in Use
High, adaptable to various environments
Less, often tailored for specific purposes
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Pipe and Tube Definitions
Pipe
To convey a substance through a pipe.
They piped natural gas into the house.
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Tube
A long, hollow cylinder for conveying or containing something.
The paint comes in a tube.
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Tube
A sealed container for ointments or creams.
She squeezed the last bit out of the toothpaste tube.
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Pipe
A narrow, tubular passage in a machine.
The steam pipe in the engine was leaking.
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Tube
A television or monitor, especially an older cathode-ray model.
They watched the game on an old tube TV.
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Pipe
A hollow cylinder or tube used to conduct a liquid, gas, or finely divided solid.
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Tube
A hollow cylinder, especially one that conveys a fluid or functions as a passage.
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Tube
An organic structure having the shape or function of a tube; a duct
A bronchial tube.
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Pipe
A device for smoking, consisting of a tube of wood, clay, or other material with a small bowl at one end.
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Oct 19, 2023
Tube
A small flexible cylindrical container sealed at one end and having a screw cap at the other, for pigments, toothpaste, or other pastelike substances.
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Pipe
An amount of smoking material, such as tobacco, needed to fill the bowl of a pipe; a pipeful.
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Oct 19, 2023
Pipe
A large wine cask, especially one having a capacity of 126 gallons or 2 hogsheads (478 liters).
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Oct 19, 2023
Tube
(Botany) The lower, cylindrical part of a gamopetalous corolla or a gamosepalous calyx.
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Tube
An underground railroad system, especially the one in London, England.
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Pipe
Pipes A small wind instrument, consisting of tubes of different lengths bound together.
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Tube
An inflatable tube or cushion made of rubber or plastic and used for recreational riding, as behind a motor boat or down a snow-covered slope.
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Pipe
Pipes(Informal) The vocal cords; the voice, especially as used in singing.
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Pipe
(Nautical) A whistle used for signaling crew members
A boatswain's pipe.
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Pipe
One of the vertical veins of eruptive origin in which diamonds are found in South Africa.
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Pipe
(Geology) An eruptive passageway opening into the crater of a volcano.
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Pipe
(Metallurgy) A cone-shaped cavity in a steel ingot, formed during cooling by escaping gases.
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Tube
An approximately cylindrical container, usually with a crimped end and a screw top, used to contain and dispense semiliquid substances.
A tube of toothpaste.
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Pipe
To convey as if by pipes, especially to transmit by wire or cable
Piped music into the store.
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Tube
The London Underground railway system, originally referred to the lower level lines that ran in tubular tunnels as opposed to the higher ones which ran in rectangular section tunnels. (Often the tube.)
I took the tube to Waterloo and walked the rest of the way.
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Tube
(surfing) A wave which pitches forward when breaking, creating a hollow space inside.
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Pipe
To receive aboard or mark the departure of by sounding a boatswain's pipe.
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Tube
(transitive) To supply with, or enclose in, a tube.
She tubes lipstick in the cosmetics factory.
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Tube
A hollow cylinder, of any material, used for the conveyance of fluids, and for various other purposes; a pipe.
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Tube
A vessel in animal bodies or plants, which conveys a fluid or other substance.
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Tube
A small pipe forming part of the boiler, containing water and surrounded by flame or hot gases, or else surrounded by water and forming a flue for the gases to pass through.
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Oct 19, 2023
Tube
A more or less cylindrical, and often spiral, case secreted or constructed by many annelids, crustaceans, insects, and other animals, for protection or concealment. See Illust. of Tubeworm.
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Pipe
(musical instrument) A wind instrument consisting of a tube, often lined with holes to allow for adjustment in pitch, sounded by blowing into the tube.
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Tube
A tunnel for a tube railway; also (Colloq.), a tube railway; a subway.
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Tube
Conduit consisting of a long hollow object (usually cylindrical) used to hold and conduct objects or liquids or gases
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Tube
Electronic device consisting of a system of electrodes arranged in an evacuated glass or metal envelope
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Pipe
A rigid tube that transports water, steam, or other fluid, as used in plumbing and numerous other applications.
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Pipe
A tubular passageway in the human body such as a blood vessel or the windpipe.
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Pipe
A large container for storing liquids or foodstuffs; now especially a vat or cask of cider or wine. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.)
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Tube
Ride or float on an inflated tube;
We tubed down the river on a hot summer day
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Pipe
The contents of such a vessel, as a liquid measure, sometimes set at 126 wine gallons; half a tun.
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Tube
A subway or underground railway system.
He commutes daily on the London Tube.
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Pipe
Decorative edging stitched to the hems or seams of an object made of fabric (clothing, hats, curtains, pillows, etc.), often in a contrasting color; piping.
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Tube
A hollow, flexible structure in an organism.
The fallopian tubes are crucial for reproduction.
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Nov 16, 2023
Pipe
(geology) A vertical conduit through the Earth's crust below a volcano through which magma has passed, often filled with volcanic breccia.
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Oct 19, 2023
Pipe
An anonymous satire or essay, insulting and frequently libellous, written on a piece of paper which was rolled up and left somewhere public where it could be found and thus spread, to embarrass the author's enemies.
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Pipe
(computing) A mechanism that enables one program to communicate with another by sending its output to the other as input.
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Oct 19, 2023
Pipe
A data backbone, or broadband Internet access.
A fat pipe is a high-bandwidth connection.
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Pipe
(smoking) A hollow stem with a bowl at one end used for smoking, especially a tobacco pipe but also including various other forms such as a water pipe.
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Pipe
The distance travelled between two rest periods during which one could smoke a pipe.
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Pipe
(ambitransitive) To play (music) on a pipe instrument, such as a bagpipe or a flute.
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Pipe
(intransitive) To emit or have a shrill sound like that of a pipe; to whistle.
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Pipe
(intransitive) Of a queen bee: to make a high-pitched sound during certain stages of development.
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Pipe
To create or decorate with piping (icing).
To pipe flowers on to a cupcake
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Pipe
A wind instrument of music, consisting of a tube or tubes of straw, reed, wood, or metal; any tube which produces musical sounds; as, a shepherd's pipe; the pipe of an organ.
Now had he rather hear the tabor and the pipe.
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Pipe
Any long tube or hollow body of wood, metal, earthenware, or the like: especially, one used as a conductor of water, steam, gas, etc.
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Pipe
A small bowl with a hollow stem, - used in smoking tobacco, and, sometimes, other substances.
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Pipe
A passageway for the air in speaking and breathing; the windpipe, or one of its divisions.
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Pipe
The peeping whistle, call, or note of a bird.
The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds.
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Pipe
A roll formerly used in the English exchequer, otherwise called the Great Roll, on which were taken down the accounts of debts to the king; - so called because put together like a pipe.
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Pipe
A boatswain's whistle, used to call the crew to their duties; also, the sound of it.
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Pipe
A cask usually containing two hogsheads, or 126 wine gallons; also, the quantity which it contains.
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Pipe
To play on a pipe, fife, flute, or other tubular wind instrument of music.
We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced.
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Pipe
To call, convey orders, etc., by means of signals on a pipe or whistle carried by a boatswain.
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Pipe
To become hollow in the process of solodifying; - said of an ingot, as of steel.
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Pipe
To perform, as a tune, by playing on a pipe, flute, fife, etc.; to utter in the shrill tone of a pipe.
A robin . . . was piping a few querulous notes.
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Oct 19, 2023
Pipe
To call or direct, as a crew, by the boatswain's whistle.
As fine a ship's company as was ever piped aloft.
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Oct 19, 2023
Pipe
A long tube made of metal or plastic that is used to carry water or oil or gas etc.
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Oct 19, 2023
Pipe
A hollow cylinder for transporting liquids or gases.
The burst pipe flooded the basement.
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Nov 16, 2023
Pipe
A device used for smoking tobacco.
He relaxed in the evening with his favorite pipe.
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Nov 16, 2023
Repeatedly Asked Queries
What are the common uses of pipes?
Pipes are commonly used in plumbing, oil and gas transportation, and infrastructure.
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Nov 16, 2023
How is pipe size measured?
Pipe size is measured based on its internal diameter (ID).
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What is a pipe?
A pipe is a cylindrical hollow structure used for transporting liquids and gases.
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Nov 16, 2023
What is a tube?
A tube is a hollow, cylindrical structure, often used in structural and mechanical applications.
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How is tube size measured?
Tube size is measured by its outside diameter (OD).
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What materials are pipes made of?
Pipes are made from various materials like steel, copper, plastic, and more.
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What are tubes commonly used for?
Tubes are used in construction, automotive manufacturing, and aerospace industries.
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Are tubes available in different shapes?
Yes, tubes can be round, square, rectangular, or custom-shaped.
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Do pipes require high precision in manufacturing?
Precision is less critical for pipes compared to tubes, except in high-pressure applications.
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Nov 16, 2023
Is the term 'tube' used for electronic components?
Yes, 'tube' is used for electronic components like cathode-ray tubes in older TVs.
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Are tubes used in everyday consumer products?
Yes, tubes are used in products like bicycles, furniture, and appliances.
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Is 'pipe' used in any musical context?
Yes, 'pipe' is used in the context of pipe organs and other wind instruments.
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Nov 16, 2023
Can pipes have different shapes?
Pipes are generally round, but some special applications might use different shapes.
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How are pipes joined together?
Pipes are usually joined using fittings, welding, or threading.
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Nov 16, 2023
What materials are tubes made of?
Tubes are often made of metals like steel or aluminum, requiring structural strength.
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Can pipes handle high pressure?
Yes, pipes, especially those with thick walls, can handle high pressure.
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Nov 16, 2023
Are tubes suitable for high-stress applications?
Yes, tubes are designed to handle high stress in structural applications.
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Nov 16, 2023
How are tubes joined?
Tubes are often joined through welding or precision fittings.
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Nov 16, 2023
Why is precision important in tube manufacturing?
Precision in tubes is important for structural integrity and specific applications.
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Are pipes used in residential settings?
Yes, pipes are widely used in residential plumbing systems.
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Nov 16, 2023
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About Author
Written by
Shumaila SaeedShumaila Saeed, an expert content creator with 6 years of experience, specializes in distilling complex topics into easily digestible comparisons, shining a light on the nuances that both inform and educate readers with clarity and accuracy.
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Hifza Nasir
