Phenomena

Tip Vortices

Like airplane wings, helicopter blades have tip vortices. In this photo, the air’s humidity was great enough that the acceleration caused by the passing of the blades caused a pressure drop great enough to condense the moisture, making the tip vortices visible to the naked eye. (See also Prandlt-Glauert singularity.)

Photo credit: Gizmodo.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.