Vacuum 'leaking out'

You all know what I meant by the vacuum 'leaking out' of a CRT, right :-). Perhaps this analogy will help to explain why I said it. We all know that the mobile charge carriers in most materials are electrons with a -ve charge. Now, suppose I take a metal sphere and charge it positively (as is done in electrostatic experiments). In time it will discharge, it's common to say 'the charge -- the positive charge -- leaked away'. But what actually happens, of course is that when I charged the object I removed some of the electrons from it, leaving it with a net positive charge, And the leackage that allowed it to discharge actually allowed electrons to flow onto the metal sphere. So in this case, the 'charging' means I removed some electrons from it, the 'leakage' allows them to return. When a CRT is evacuated, the gas molecules are removed from the inside, leaving a vacuum. When it leaks, air goes back in, returnign it to the natural state. By analogy with the electorstatic experiment, it doesn't seem so crazy to say the 'vacuum leaked out'. -tony