Celebrating the physics of all that flows with Nicole Sharp, Ph.D.
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Deforming Soap Films
It’s the time of year when new Gallery of Fluid Motion videos start popping up online. We’ve already featured several and no doubt there will be more to come. Today’s post is a submission from Saad Bhamla, who gave this introduction to the work: Soap bubbles occupy the rare position of delighting and fascinating both…
Re-Entry
Atmospheric re-entry subjects vehicles to extreme conditions. At high Mach numbers, the leading shock wave compresses the air so strongly that it reaches temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun. At these temperatures, oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the air dissociate, bathing a vehicle in a plasma of ionized gas molecules. Often these atoms…
Visualizing Vortices
Flow visualization can be a valuable tool for understanding fluid dynamics. In this video, we see how it can help elucidate the mechanisms of flapping flight. By dyeing vortices from the leading edge in red rhodamine and vortices from the trailing edge in green fluorescein, it’s possible to distinguish their competing effects for wings of…
Nectar-Eating Bats
Nectar-eating bats have evolved to use several methods to drink. Some bats, like the Pallas’ long-tongued bat (top), use a lapping method. Hair-like papillae on the bat’s tongue increase the contact area with the nectar, helping to draw the fluid up in viscous globs as the bat repeatedly dips its tongue into the nectar. The…
Glow-Stick Ferrofluids
Ferrofluids create all kinds of fascinating shapes when exposed to magnetic fields. In this video, Dianna from Physics Girl shows off what happens when you combine a ferrofluid with glowsticks and explains how ferrofluids get some of their unique properties. Ferrofluids consist of tiny nanoparticles of magnetic material that are surrounded by surfactants and suspended…
Mammatus Clouds
Mammatus clouds, the bubble-shaped protrusions sometimes seen underneath cumulus clouds, are a rare and dramatic type of cloud. The mammatus is typically short-lived, with lobes lasting only 10 minutes or so. Their rarity and short appearances are among the reasons why this cloud type has been little studied. As a result, there are many theories…
Bullet-Time Inferno
Remember the bullet time effect from The Matrix? This spectacular video gives you a similar effect with the turbulent flames created by firebreathers. To capture this level of detail, Mitch Martinez uses an array of 50 cameras placed around the performers, allowing him to reconstruct the full, three-dimensional representation of the flames. Similarly, some scientists use…
How Plants Move
Though most plants don’t move at speeds that we humans notice, many plants are remarkably active, as seen in the timelapse animations above. Much of this motion is driven by water flow inside the plant. The two plants above are phototropic–they move in response to light. The motion is actuated via a specialized motor cell…
Extinguishing Flames
Putting out fires can be a difficult, water-intensive task. In this video, scientists demonstrate how using a non-Newtonian fluid can make it easier to extinguish and suppress flames. Where water tends to splatter and scatter against an object, a yield-stress fluid can cling and coat to smother the flame. The fluid used here is water…
Pollock-Style Physics
Here on FYFD, we like to show off the artistic side of fluid dynamics. But some researchers are actively studying how artists use fluid dynamics in their art. In this video, they examine one of Jackson Pollock’s painting techniques, in which filaments of paint were applied by flinging paint off a paintbrush. Getting the technique…