Celebrating the physics of all that flows with Nicole Sharp, Ph.D.
- Profile
Earth, Moon, and Magma Ocean
Among objects in our solar system, the Moon is rather unusual. It’s the only large moon paired with a rocky planet, and only Pluto’s Charon boasts a larger size relative to its planet. Chemically speaking, the Moon is also extremely similar to the Earth, which is part of why scientists theorized that the moon coalesced…
Granular Instabilities
Granular mixtures show surprising similarities to fluids, even though their underlying physics differ. The latest example of this is a Rayleigh-Taylor-like instability that occurs when heavy particles sit atop lighter ones. By combining vertical vibration and an upward gas flow, researchers found that the lighter particles form fingers and bubbles that seep up between the…
The Bouncing Drop
For a droplet to bounce, we expect it to hit a wall or a sharp interface of some kind. But in a new study, researchers demonstrate a droplet that bounces with neither. Shown above is an oil droplet sinking through a stratified mixture of ethanol (toward the top) and water (toward the bottom). Because the…
360 Splashes
Beautiful as a splash is, why only enjoy it from a single angle? In this video, the artists behind Macro Room offer a 360-degree perspective on various splashes and fluid collisions. I especially enjoy watching the splash crowns falling back over and out of the various containers they use. What’s your favorite part? (Image and…
Tornado from a Drone
One of the challenges in studying tornadoes is being in the right place at the right time. In that regard, storm chaser Brandon Clement hit the jackpot earlier this week when he captured this footage of a tornado near Sulphur, Oklahoma from his drone. He was able to follow the twister for several minutes until…
Ice Labyrinths
Pattern formation is extremely common in nature, from the dendritic growth of trees and snowflakes to the stripes of a tiger. A new paper describes how a thin layer of ice in a liquid can form labyrinthine patterns when illuminated with near-infrared light. Both the liquid and ice are maintained at a constant temperature below…
Reshaping the Wake to Decrease Drag
When it comes to the aerodynamics of cars, there’s only so much streamlining one can do. In the end, most cars have a certain boxy-ness as a matter of practicality; they do, after all, have to carry people and things. But that doesn’t mean we’re stuck with the level of drag those shapes entail. For…
Rays in Craters
On bodies around the solar system, there are craters marking billions of years’ worth of impacts. Many of these craters have rays–distinctive lines radiating out from the point of impact. But if you drop an object onto a smooth granular surface (upper left), the ejecta form a uniform splash with no rays. The impactor must…
The Art of Paper Marbling
Known as ebru in Turkey and suminagashi in Japan, the art of paper marbling has flourished in cultures around the world since medieval times. The details of methods vary, but in general, the technique uses a base of oily water to float various dyes and pigments. Artists then use brushes, wires, and other tools to…
Freezing Stains
When they evaporate, drops of liquids like coffee and red wine leave behind stains with a darker ring along the edges, thanks to capillary action and surface tension pulling particles to that outer edge. In contrast, sublimating a frozen droplet leaves a stain pattern that concentrates at the center (top). When droplets freeze from the surface…