In 1915, the early days of submarine warfare, the RMS Lusitania was sunk off the coast of Ireland by a torpedo. Eyewitnesses reported a second, more powerful explosion just after Keep reading
Month: November 2024
Viscoelastic Fingers
This series of photos shows two plates with a thin layer of polymer-laced, viscoelastic liquid. As the two plates are separated, complex instabilities form. The lower section of each photograph Keep reading
Creating Lava
In Syracuse, NY, artists and scientists work together to study volcanic flows by melting crushed basalt in a special furnace before releasing the lava into the parking lot. This particular Keep reading
Homemade Astronomy
Artist Julia Cuddy uses liquids, soaps, and glitter to create photographs that replicate the look of deep space astronomy. By adding soap to the dyes, she uses Marangoni effects to drive Keep reading
Fireball in Slow Motion
The high-speed video above shows an atomized spray of flammable liquid being ignited using a lighter. It was filmed at 10,000 fps and is replayed at 30 fps. Although uncontained, Keep reading
Bubbles and Jets
In the photo sequence above, a bubble is created at the interface between two immiscible liquids–water on top and denser hydrofluroether (HFE) below. Initially, the bubble expands explosively due to Keep reading
Fractal Fluids
Part of the beauty of numerical simulation is its ability to explore the physics of a situation that would difficult or impossible to create experimentally. Here the Rayleigh-Taylor instability–which occurs when Keep reading
How to Escape a Whitewater Hole
One of the perils of whitewater sports is getting stuck in what paddlers call a “hole” or a “hydraulic”. This river feature forms just downstream of large obstacles like rocks Keep reading
Flapping Flags
The flapping of flexible objects like flags have long fascinated mankind. The figure above from Shelley and Zhang 2011 shows several possible flapping states. In (a) a thread immersed in Keep reading
Astro Puffs
Microgravity continues to be a fascinating playground for observing surface tension effects on the macroscale without pesky gravity getting in the way. Here astronaut Don Pettit has created a sphere Keep reading