This spectacular Hubble image shows the Bubble Nebula. The source of this nebula is the star seen toward the upper left side of the bubble. This massive, super-hot star has Keep reading
Month: December 2024
Striking Oobleck
Mixing cornstarch and water creates a fluid called oobleck that has some pretty bizarre properties. Oobleck is a shear-thickening, non-Newtonian fluid, which means its viscosity increases when you try to Keep reading
Emulsion Impact
Emulsions – mixtures of two immiscible fluids – are quite common; the oil and vinegar combination used in many salad dressings is one. The image sequence above shows the first Keep reading
Mediterranean Currents
Ocean currents play a major role in the weather and climate of our planet. This video shows a simulation of the surface ocean currents in the Mediterranean and Atlantic over Keep reading
Bubbles and Films Merging
As we’ve seen before, a water droplet can merge gradually with a pool through a coalescence cascade. It turns out that the coalescence of a soap bubble with a soap Keep reading
A New Cloud
These unusual and spectacular clouds are known as undulatus asperatus. Though they have been proposed as a new type of cloud, they are as yet officially unrecognized. Despite their dramatic Keep reading
Coastal Upwelling
Cool temperatures and abundant nutrients make the waters off the western coast of North America especially biologically productive. This image is a composite of satellite data highlighting large phytoplankton blooms Keep reading
Crown Splash Sealing
A sphere falling into water generates a spectacular crown splash at the surface. The object’s impact ejects a thin sheet of fluid that rises vertically. The air pulled down into Keep reading
Auroras From Space
NASA has released a jaw-dropping new compilation of Earth’s auroras viewed from the International Space Station. It’s available in up to 4K resolution, and I heartily recommend watching it fullscreen Keep reading
Pinning a Drop
The shape of a droplet sitting on a surface depends, in part, on its surface tension properties but also on the nanoscale roughness of the surface. Small variations in the Keep reading