Liquids don’t typically survive very long as thin films. If you try to make one from water, gravity drains it away immediately. (Not so in space.) To make a liquid Keep reading
Month: November 2023
Inside Ink Jet Printing
Inkjet printers produce droplets at an incredible rate. A typical printhead generates droplets that are about 10 picoliters in volume – that is, ten trillionths of a liter – moving Keep reading
Breaking Waves in the Sky
Under the right atmospheric conditions, clouds can form in a distinctive but short-lived breaking wave pattern known as a Kelvin-Helmholtz cloud. The animation above shows the formation and breakdown of Keep reading
Quad Copter Schlieren
Schlieren photography is a classic method of flow visualization that utilizes small variations in density (or temperature) to make otherwise unseen air motion visible. Because changing air’s density or temperature Keep reading
A Drip’s Vortex
Drip food coloring into water and you can often see a torus-shaped vortex ring after the drop’s impact. That vortex rings form during droplet impact has been well known for Keep reading
Ferrofluid Microlandscapes
Ferrofluids are an ever-fascinating topic. Consisting of ferromagnetic nanoparticles suspended in a carrier fluid, ferrofluids are known for their bizarre behaviors in the presence of a magnetic field, like their Keep reading
Self-Propelled Hovercraft
When placed on an extremely hot substrate, some drops levitate and can be propelled over specially textured surfaces. Inspired by this work, researchers are using similar principles to explore manipulation Keep reading
Superhydrophobic Splashes
Superhydrophobic surfaces have a complicated microscale structure that changes how water interacts with them, like the hairs on a lotus leaf or the scales of a butterfly’s wing. The photo Keep reading
Blue Man Group in Slow Mo
In their latest video, the Slow Mo Guys team up with the Blue Man Group for some high-speed hijinks, some of which make for great fluidsy visuals. Their first experiment Keep reading
Sky Glow
This short but spectacular timelapse video shows the Grand Canyon filled with fog. This phenomenon, known as a temperature inversion, occurs when a warm layer of air traps cold, moist Keep reading