Celebrating the physics of all that flows with Nicole Sharp, Ph.D.
- Profile
Reader Question: Heat Shimmer
Reader dialectical-induction asks: Being as its pretty hot right now where I am, I was always curious, what exactly is occurring when the air is seemingly rippling on a hot day. I’ve noticed this phenomenon most often close to the pavement or anywhere where it’s really hot. Is it moisture in the air, off the…
Brownian Motion
Have you ever noticed how motes of dust seem to dance around even in still air? The reason they do is because all the atoms and molecules in the air have a certain amount of random motion and all those tiny random motions result in collisions on the dust particles that shift them around. The…
“Liquid Jewel”
Just a reminder that today is your last chance to participate in our reader survey. If you haven’t had a chance yet to fill it out, please do. The data are very important to us, not just for this site, but for improving science outreach online in general. Thank to those who have filled out…
Fluids Round-up – 27 July 2013
Fluids round-up time! Here are our latest fluidsy links from around the web: Science@NASA explains how to use capillary action to drink one’s coffee in microgravity. (via io9) Nature is not exactly a quiet place. Here are a couple of things you probably haven’t heard: icebergs breaking up and running aground and the “seismic scream” preceding a volcanic eruption. Mars Curiosity’s work…
The Fluid Dynamical Sewing Machine
Originally posted: 3 Jan 2012 Nonlinearity and chaos are important topics for many aspects of fluid dynamics but can be difficult to wrap one’s head around. But this video provides an awesome, direct example of one of the key concepts of nonlinear systems–namely, bifurcation. What you see is a thread of very viscous fluid, like honey, falling…
Bursting Bubble
Originally posted: 24 Aug 2011 That soap bubbles burst in the blink of an eye is a pity considering how fascinating their disappearing act is. This photo set from photographer Richard Heeks captures the bubbles mid-burst. Once the bubble’s film is breached, surface tension rips the smooth film back like a broken balloon, causing the liquid…
Soap Film Butterfly
Originally posted: 14 Jan 2011 This gorgeous butterfly-like double spiral roll takes place on a horizontal soap film. The foil (seen top center) inserted in the film flaps back and forth. Each time the foil changes direction a vortex forms at the tip and gets advected away. The vortices stretch and distort in the roll, but…
Rocket Sonic Boom
Originally posted: 22 July 2010 This video of the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory’s launch is such a favorite of mine that it was part of the original inspiration for FYFD and was the very first video I posted. Watch closely as the Atlas V rocket climbs. At 1:51 you’ll see a rainbow-like cloud in upper right…
Happy Birthday, FYFD!
Today marks the third birthday of FYFD, and it’s been a pretty crazy ride so far. Three years ago, I would have never predicted a blog about fluid dynamics could gain over 170,000 followers. (Thanks for proving me wrong!) As part of my efforts to continue FYFD’s science outreach, I am conducting a reader survey.…
Dublin’s Pitch-Drop Experiment
Readers may recall the University of Queensland’s pitch-drop experiment, recognized as the longest continuously running experiment in the world. Back in 1927, a professor started the experiment with the goal of measuring the extremely high viscosity of pitch. Since then, only eight drops have fallen. Queensland’s is not the only version of this experiment, though;…