In this video, Steve Mould tackles a question many of us have likely wondered: just why does falling water make this chain-like shape? When pouring from a slit-like orifice, water Keep reading
Month: January 2022
Meltwater Tracking Via Seal
Monitoring meltwater from Antarctic glaciers is critical for understanding our changing climate, but such remote and inaccessible regions are tough to collect data in. So researchers are turning to local Keep reading
Superior Mirage
This photograph of a ship seemingly floating far above the water is not some Photoshop fakery; it’s physics creating the illusion. It’s an example of what’s known as a superior Keep reading
“Dancing With Danger”
Filmmaker Chris Bryan captures surfer Kipp Caddy as he rides an enormous wave in “Dancing With Danger.” Nothing quite captures the majesty of these powerful flows like high-speed videography. Enjoy Keep reading
Jumping Frost
Liquid water is easily electrically charged, due to its polar nature. That’s why rubbing a comb is enough to deflect a stream of water. Ice is harder to charge, but Keep reading
Taylor Columns
When rotating, fluids often act very differently than we expect. For example, an obstacle in a rotating flow will deflect flow around it at all heights. This is known as Keep reading
Freezing Splats
In fluid physics, there’s often a tug of war between different effects. For droplets falling onto a surface colder than their freezing point, the hydrodynamics of impact, sudden heat transfer, Keep reading
Fallstreak Holes
Occasionally clouds appear to have a hole in them; these are known as fallstreak holes or hole-punch clouds. To form, the water droplets in the cloud must be supercooled; in Keep reading
“Radiolarians”
“Radiolarians” is a short film by artist Roman De Giuli using ink, alcohol, and oil. Much of the fluid motion involves break-up into droplets. The effects appear to rely heavily Keep reading
Chaotic Mixing in Porous Media
One of the peculiar characteristics of viscous, laminar flows is that they are reversible. Squirt dye into glycerin, stir it one way, then the opposite direction, and the dye returns Keep reading