Many situations can generate high-speed liquid jets, including droplet impacts, vibrated fluids, and surface charges. In each of these cases, a concave liquid surface is impulsively accelerated, which causes the Keep reading
Month: May 2023
AEDC 16-ft Supersonic Tunnel
This 1960 photo shows three men standing inside Arnold Engineering Development Complex’s 16-ft supersonic wind tunnel facility. The wind tunnel was capable of Mach numbers between 1.60 and 4.75 through Keep reading
Colliding in Microgravity
On Earth, it’s easy for the effects of surface tension and capillary action to get masked by gravity’s effects. This makes microgravity experiments, like those performed with drop towers or Keep reading
Droplets Surfing
The Leidenfrost effect can make water droplets skitter across a hot griddle or briefly protect a hand dunked in liquid nitrogen. When a liquid is exposed to a solid surface Keep reading
Advantages of Schooling
Many fish swim in close proximity to one another in large schools, causing scientists to wonder if this behavior is motivated primarily by defense against predators or whether fish derive Keep reading
The March of Drops
I love science with a sense of humor. This video features a series of clips showing the behavior of droplets on what appears to be a superhydrophobic surface. In particular, Keep reading
Putting Out Wildfires Using Explosives
Wildfires damage millions of acres of land per year in the United States alone. Using explosives to put out an uncontrolled wildfire sounds a bit crazy, but it’s actually not Keep reading
Oily Foams
It is common in many industries to use oil as a defoamer to break up existing foams or prevent foams from forming. But with the right surfactants–additives that change the Keep reading
Supercell Timelapse
The storm chasing group Basehunters captured this stunning timelapse of a supercell thunderstorm forming in Wyoming. This class of storm is characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone, seen here Keep reading
River Paths
As a follow-up to this recent post about river meander, check out this video from Numberphile about some of the mathematics behind the path of rivers. A river’s course is Keep reading