Fire ants clump together into giant rafts to stay alive during floods. But these rafts won’t form with just any number of ants. Researchers found that individual ants will actually Keep reading
Tag: surface tension
“Life and Chaos”
In “Life and Chaos,” artists Roman Hill and Paul Mignot shot fluid flows live in a 1 cm x 1 cm square, then projected those images across 3,300 square meters. Keep reading
“I See You”
In “I See You,” filmmaker Rus Khasanov captures fluid flows that give the screen an eye with which to gaze back at us. The textures visible in the flows are Keep reading
When Seeing a Flow Changes It
Adding dye to a flow is a common technique for visualization. After all, many flows in fluids like air and water are invisible to our bare eyes. But for some Keep reading
Contactless Bending
Using electromagnetism, researchers are bending and shaping soft liquid wires even against gravity. The team used galinstan — an alloy of gallium, indium, and tin that remains liquid at room Keep reading
“Velocity”
In this short film by Vadim Sherbakov, macro shots of glittery ink and pigments look like astronomical vistas. The title of the film, “Velocity,” is spot on; every shot is Keep reading
Self-Stopping Leaks
A leak can actually stop itself, as shown in this video. To demonstrate, the team used a tube pierced with a small hole. When filled, water initially shoots out the Keep reading
Coalescence Symmetry
When droplets coalesce, they perform a wiggly dance, gyrating as the capillary waves on their surface interfere. When the droplets have matching surface tensions, like the two water droplets in Keep reading
Ant Bridge
As red ants scout their way to food, the terrain can sometimes get in the way. Here a leading scout has made their body into a bridge that their fellows Keep reading
“ColorLover”
“ColorLover,” a short film by artist Rus Khasanov, is a delightful liquid rainbow. The video’s ingredients seem to be ink, paint, oil, and a bit of superhydrophobic coating primed to Keep reading