Rockets often utilize liquid propellants for their combustion. To maximize the efficiency during burning, the liquid fuel and oxidizer must mix quickly and break up into an easily vaporized spray. Keep reading
Month: February 2025
Catching Prey
Over at Smarter Every Day, Destin has a new video, this time about how fish eat, which involves some pretty awesome physics. Instead of accelerating their entire body to close Keep reading
Hummingbird Hovering
The hummingbird has long been admired for its ability to hover in flight. The key to this behavior is the bird’s capability to produce lift on both its downstroke and Keep reading
“The Flow II”
“The Flow II” film by Bose Collins and colleagues features a ferrofluid, a magnetically-sensitive liquid made up of a carrier fluid like oil and many tiny, ferrous nanoparticles. Although ferrofluids Keep reading
Typhoon Neoguri
Astronaut Reid Wiseman has been posting photos of Typhoon Neoguri in his Twitter feed this week. From our perspective on the ground, it’s easy to forget how three-dimensional the typhoons Keep reading
Giant Bubbles
In their latest video, Gavin and Dan of The Slow Mo Guys demonstrate what giant bubbles look like in high-speed video from birth to death. Surface tension, which arises from Keep reading
Waterspouts
Waterspouts are commonly thought of as tornadoes over water, but this is only partially true. Some waterspouts do begin as tornadoes, but waterspouts are more commonly non-tornadic or fair-weather in Keep reading
Blood Flow Simulations
Though we may not often consider it, our bodies are full of fluid dynamics. Blood flow is a prime example, and, in this video, researchers describe their simulations of flow Keep reading
Tip Vortex
Smoke released from the end of a test blade shows the helical pattern of a tip vortex from a horizontal-axis wind turbine. Like airplane wings, wind turbine blades generate a Keep reading
Fireworks Taking Off
Aerial fireworks are essentially semi-controlled exploding rockets. Here Discovery Channel shares high-speed video of fireworks taking off. The turbulent billowing exhaust on the ground is reminiscent of other rocket launches. Keep reading