Celebrating the physics of all that flows with Nicole Sharp, Ph.D.
- Profile
Cloudy Mornings and Clear Evenings
In the past few decades, our knowledge of exoplanets has exploded, but we’re still relatively limited in what we can learn about these worlds. That’s due, in large part, to the indirect way we observe them. Most exoplanets are found when we see them transit, passing between Earth and their star. During a transit, the…
Breaking a Dam to Save It
The concrete that makes up so much of our world is usually local in origin. To keep costs low, engineers use locally-sourced ingredients to make it. But not all ingredients perform the same. In the decades since concrete’s widespread adoption, engineers have discovered that some components in the concrete are prone to chemical reactions that…
Buckling in Rings
From oil drums to–yes–soda cans, liquid-filled cylindrical shells are everywhere. And, it turns out, these structures fail differently than empty shells or ones filled with a solid. Liquid-filled cylinders buckle in sequential rings, as seen in the video below. Researchers found that the buckling resulted from the shell softening and re-stiffening under the compressive load–repeating…
Drying Out Microbe-Filled Droplets
Ocean sprays, coughs, and sneezes are just a few of the ways that droplets full of bacteria and salt can get aloft on a breeze. How do these bacteria stay viable even as their droplet evaporates? That’s the question behind this video’s research. When a bacteria-laden droplet or a salt-laden droplet dries, the evaporating droplet’s…
Soaring Over Icelandic Lava Fields
We’re terribly spoiled these days when it comes to footage of lava and volcanic eruptions. Back when I started FYFD, I could find very few decent photos of lava flows to illustrate posts. And now, thanks to drone cameras, we have a glut of absolutely gorgeous footage of flowing lava. This particular example comes from…
Regelation Lets Glaciers Flow
Under the cold temperatures and immense pressures of a glacier, ice does not always behave in ways we’d expect. For example, cutting through ice using the pressure of a weighted wire does not break an ice block in two; as the wire passes through the ice, the melted water refreezes in its wake, leaving an…
Infrasound Fire Suppression Goes Commercial
Sprinklers have long been the go-to fire protection for commercial properties and some residences. Dousing a fire in water not only puts out the flames but cools the surroundings and helps prevent reignition. But it requires complicated infrastructure and can damage buildings and their contents. Back in 2015, students were experimenting with an alternative fire…
On Dolphin Turbulence
Dolphins are such fast and agile swimmers that, naturally, scientists have long wanted to understand how they swim so well. A recent study draws on numerical simulation to analyze the flow a dolphin creates when flapping its tail. The resulting flow is highly turbulent–researchers were only able to simulate up to a fraction of a…
Seeking Quieter Supersonic Flight
Supersonic flight over the U.S. has been banned by all non-military aircraft for more than fifty years. The ban gained momentum in the 1960s after test programs over St. Louis and Oklahoma provoked public outcry. But NASA’s X-59 aircraft is working to lift the ban by softening the sonic booms that encouraged the ban in…
“Sunny Seaweed Surf”
Seaweed sways in the surf in this photograph by Billy Arthur. I always love how waves look like a stormy sky when viewed from below. This image is extra neat because of the contrast with the sunbeams shining through the still surface on the right side of the image. Sun and storm on the verge…