Could atmospheric pressure provide a torque to turn a wheel?

Question

Imagine a smooth wheel. Now imagine it is divided up into four "pizza slices". We came up with an idea where you would put the bottom two "slices" along with the top left "slice" in a very low pressure chamber, then leave the remaining (top right) slice open to the air. Because the atmospheric pressure will "push down" on the one slice that is open to the air, and it won't push down on the slices inside the low-pressure chamber, the wheel will spin, creating energy.

However, I am pretty sure there is something wrong with this, and I think it has something to do with my understanding of atmospheric pressure.

Answer 1

Pressure from a gas exerted on a solid acts perpendicularly to the surface of the solid, not as you have drawn it.

Atmospheric pressure won't exert a torque on your wheel.

Answer 2

The atmospheric pressure wouldn't push to the side, it would push in all directions, canceling out.

Answer 3

Atmospheric pressure acts on the wheel in all directions but the net pressure effect on the wheel depends on the surrounding air condition. In windy days, you may see the wheel rotate because of the net pressure, may be acting perpendicular as you have shown out. In calm weather and net pressure cancelling out, you may not see rotating wheel. In general, your wheel system is nothing more than a rotating wind mill.

Answer 4

If your machine were to work it would be because the density of the air in the closed portion of the wheel is greater than the density on the other portions. The (slight) increase in weight may be sufficient to cause the wheel to rotate. Though pressure and density are related, it's not the pressure that would cause your machine to work.