Microfluidic channels are excellent at creating a steady supply of droplets. But depending on the characteristics of the two viscous fluids being used, as well as factors like flow rate Keep reading
Month: March 2025
To Beat Surface Tension, Tadpoles Make Bubbles
For tiny creatures, surface tension is a formidable barrier. Newborn tadpoles are much too small and weak to breach the air-water surface in order to breathe. Researchers found that, instead, Keep reading
Surface Jets in Coalescing Droplets
What goes on when droplets merge is tough to observe, even with a high-speed camera. There are many factors at play: any momentum in the droplets, surface tension, gravity, and Keep reading
Paint Versus Hydrogel
In this bizarre short film, we get to see a battle between dissolution and absorption. I think the Chemical Bouillon team has coated hydrogel beads in a layer of paint Keep reading
Using Electric Fields to Avoid Dripping
Anyone who’s painted a room at home is familiar with the frustration of drips. At certain inclinations, practically every viscous liquid develops these gravity-driven instabilities. They’re troublesome in manufacturing as Keep reading
Ice Patterns
Periods of freezing and thawing can leave complicated patterns in ice, as seen in this aerial photo of Binnewater Lake in New York. Ice rarely forms evenly on large bodies Keep reading
Inferring Flows with Neural Networks
Fluid dynamicists have long used flow visualization methods to get a qualitative sense for flows, but it’s rare to derive much quantitative data from this imagery. But that may soon Keep reading
Boiling Water Using Ice Water
Steve Mould demonstrates a neat thermodynamic trick in this video by using ice water to boil hot water. The key to understanding this is recognizing that the boiling point of Keep reading
Gliding Birds Get Extra Lift From Their Tails
Gorgeous new research highlights some of the differences between fixed-wing flight and birds. Researchers trained a barn owl, tawny owl, and goshawk to glide through a cloud of helium-filled bubbles Keep reading
Collapsing Inside a Soap Film
There’s a common demonstration of surface tension where a loop of string is placed in a soap film and then the film inside the loop is popped, making it suddenly Keep reading