Celebrating the physics of all that flows with Nicole Sharp, Ph.D.
- Profile
Understanding Wildfire
Wildfires are an ongoing challenge in the western United States, where droughts and warmer conditions have combined with a century of fire suppression to form perfect conditions for monstrous fires. It’s long been understood that ambient winds can drive spreading fire, but the connection between wildfire and wind is more complicated than this. The heat of…
Surfing Honeybees
Honeybees have superpowers when it comes to their aerodynamics and impressive pollen-carrying, but their talents don’t end in the air. A new study confirms that honeybees can surf. Wet bees cannot fly–their wings are too heavy for them to get aloft when wet–but falling into a pond isn’t the end for a foraging honeybee. Instead,…
Adapting to the Flow
Simulating fluid dynamics computationally is no simple task. One of the major challenges is that flows typically consist of many different lengthscales, from the very large to the extremely tiny. In theory, correctly capturing the physics of the flow requires computing all of those scales, and that means having a very close, dense grid of points at…
Jovian Vortices
Jupiter continues to mesmerize in the images from JunoCam. With enhanced contrast, the planet’s eddies look like swirls you could just lean forward and fall into. The complexity of the Jovian atmosphere’s mixing is just astounding. It’s like an ever-changing Impressionist painting brought to life. Check out full-size versions of these stunning images here and here. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill, 1, 2; via Planetary Society;…
“Stormscapes 4”
Frightening as they can be in the moment, storms have a power and majesty all their own. I’ve never seen a better way to capture that than through timelapse, and photographer Nicolaus Wegner offers a great one in “Stormscapes 4″. I particularly like how his frame captures the motion of storms and how they shear, rotate, and…
Creating Biofuel
One production technique for biofuel converts agricultural waste through pyrolysis. These systems heat biomass particles in a mixture of sand and nitrogen gas until the biomass particles release tar and syngas, a key ingredient of biofuel. All this heating and mixing takes place in a fluidized bed, where the injected nitrogen gas helps the particle mixture move like…
Swirling Vortex
So much of fluid dynamics comes down to finding the right way to observe a flow. This image of a swirling tropical system was captured by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station in April 2019. The low sun angle at the time makes the shadows stretch long across the cloud tops, giving them greater…
The Microscopic Ocean
When you’re the size of plankton, water may as well be molasses. Viscosity rules at these scales, and swimming plankton leave distinctive wakes that are slow to dissipate. Fish that feed on plankton use these trails to find their prey. But this microscopic world is changing as the ocean warms. At higher temperatures, water is less viscous, and plankton…
Fast-Switching Multi-Material 3D Printer
For 3D printers to reach their potential, they need to handle more than one material and be able to swap quickly and seamlessly between them. That’s a tall order given how different materials like silicone and wax are. But a new 3D printer tackles that challenge using microfluidic nozzles designed extrude multiple fluids in quick succession. The nozzle controls which fluid…
2019 APS DFD Schedule
It’s time for the annual American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting, and once again, I’ll be attending. If you’ve been scanning the program wondering where I am, wonder no more! Here’s a run-down of the talks and events I’ll be appearing at: “All the Faces of Fluid Dynamics” Panel – Sunday, Nov 24,…