Celebrating the physics of all that flows with Nicole Sharp, Ph.D.
- Profile
Quantum Instability
In our everyday lives, two fluids moving past one another often form a wave-like pattern thanks to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. We see it in the curl of waves on the ocean, in clouds in the sky, and even in spirals of lava on Mars. Here researchers explore an analogous instability in the quantum world. By…
Rocked By Waves
This astronaut photo shows the Isles of Scilly off the Cornish coast. The pale turquoise waters mark shallow reefs and shoals between the islands while blues reveal deeper waters surrounding the isles. The sun angle is perfect for highlighting the complex wave patterns caused by the winds and tides. Look closely and you’ll see swells…
Everlasting Bubbles
Soap bubbles are delicate and ephemeral, always a breath away from collapse due to thinning driven by gravity or evaporation. But that frailty can be countered. Adding microparticles to the bubble’s shell in place of surfactants counters drainage and makes bubbles last for tens of minutes (left). Adding glycerol to the mix takes things a…
Frozen Wind-Sculpted Sands
On the cold, wind-swept beaches of Lake Michigan, the sands sometimes turn into a landscape of miniature hoodoos. Strong winds erode the frozen sand into these shapes, which last only days before wearing away or falling over. This photographic series by Joshua Nowicki immortalizes the ephemeral winter sculptures. You can see more of his photography…
Butterflies Emerging
When a butterfly emerges from its chrysalis, it flaps its wings to help pump fluids through its body, essentially inflating its new adult form. You get a glimpse of that process here in this Ant Lab video, along with some spectacular slow motion footage of butterflies taking off. I’m always amazed to see how much…
Stopping The Drop
When a droplet falls on a mesh surface, some of the liquid can burst through the holes (top row). But subsequent drops have a harder time penetrating the prewetted mesh. After a few drops have impacted (rows 2-3), the wetted mesh can completely suppress penetration (rows 4-5). The authors found that the taller drops sitting…
Streaks of Sea Ice
As summer approaches in the Southern Ocean, sea ice melts, but the process is not purely one-way. Temperatures in some locations are cold enough for some limited new freezing. The result is a mix of ice conditions like those seen here. The oldest, thickest ice is part of the ice shelf in the image’s lower…
Sounds of Champagne
Lean in to a glass of champagne and you’ll hear a soft chorus of sound as the bubbles pop. Recently, researchers determined the specific mechanism in the process that’s responsible for that audible sound. Bubbles pop when the thin film of liquid separating them from the atmosphere drains away. The moment the film opens corresponds…
Beijing 2022: Sliding on Snow
Skiing and snowboarding events rely on the peculiar physics of sliding on snow. According to classical lubrication theory, that sliding shouldn’t be nearly as low in friction as what we observe. The key here is that snow is soft and porous; it’s compressible, but it can also trap air (or water) in the pores between…
Beijing 2022: Ice’s Slideability
As scientists continue to unravel the peculiarities of ice, they’ve found that ice’s friction depends both on the object sliding on it and the ice’s hardness. At extremely low temperatures, water molecules at the ice’s surface are held rigidly by the hard ice, resulting in high friction. At intermediate temperatures, however, water molecules at the…