This photo shows the Saffman-Taylor instability in a Hele-Shaw cell. Here a viscous fluid has been placed between two glass plates and a second less viscous fluid inserted, resulting in Keep reading
Month: January 2020
Airplanes Creating Snow
Scientists now think that that airplanes may be responsible for increasing local snowfall by flash-freezing supercooled water vapor in clouds. Water droplets can persist in the atmosphere to temperatures of Keep reading
Water Drops at 10,000 FPS
We’ve seen water droplets join a larger pool at 2,000 frames per second, but what about 10,000 frames per second? (via Gizmodo)
Soap Bubble Shapes
The shapes of soap bubbles are determined by surface tension, which ensures the smallest surface area for a given contained volume. (#) Their iridescent colors are created by the interference Keep reading
Mach Diamonds
Joe asks: Why does this rocket have that repeating pattern in its exhaust? I’m amazed that it’s so stable for so far as distance from the nozzle. Excellent question! The Keep reading
Microgravity Marangoni
Astronauts are preparing an experiment on the Marangoni effect, in which a variation in surface tension can cause mass flow, for flight aboard the International Space Station. The effect, also Keep reading
Reader Question: Oswald de Waele
fyeahhexagons-deactivated201103 asks: Could you do a quick post explaining the Oswald de Waele relationship please? Thanks! Sure! The Oswald-de Waele relationship (a.k.a. a power-law fluid) is an attempt to generalize the Keep reading
Crown Breakup
When a droplet falls into a pool of similar fluid, one often observes a crown-like impact effect. This student video shows high-speed footage of different fluids crowning and explores the Keep reading
Leaping Ferrofluid
This video shows some of the dynamic behaviors of a ferrofluid near moving magnetic fields. Ferrofluids are formed from a suspension of ferrous particles in a liquid, usually oil.
Archimedes
Archimedes may be the world’s most famous fluid mechanician. The story of his discovery of the principles of buoyancy (and his subsequent running naked through the streets proclaiming “Eureka!”) is Keep reading