Celebrating the physics of all that flows with Nicole Sharp, Ph.D.
- Profile
A Drop’s Shape Effects
Falling raindrops get distorted by the air rushing past them, ultimately breaking large droplets into many smaller ones. This research poster shows how variable this process is by showing two different raindrops, both of the same 8-mm initial diameter. On the left, the drop is prolate — longer than it is wide — and on…
Icelandic Flows
Known as “The Land of Fire and Ice,” Iceland has some of the most striking landscapes around. Photographer Jennifer Esseiva captures auroras, waterfalls, geysers, rivers, and more in this series from her 2024 trip to the island. Every one of these images bears the fingerprints of fluid dynamics: plasma flows lighting up the night sky;…
Flooding the Mediterranean
Nearly 6 million years ago, the Mediterranean was cut off from the ocean and evaporated faster than rivers could replenish it. This created a salty desert that persisted until about 5.3 million years ago. One hypothesis — the Zanclean megaflood — suggests that the Mediterranean refilled rapidly through an erosion channel near the Strait of…
Dutch Water Works
The Netherlands have a long history of extraordinary public works when it comes to water management. With much of the country’s land lying at or below sea level, massive civil engineering infrastructure is a necessity. In this Practical Engineering video, Grady takes us on a tour of Dutch water works, from the centuries-old techniques that…
Disappearing Sea Ice Ridges
As blocks of sea ice shift and float, they can press together, forming ridges spaced every few hundred meters or so. A new study uses aerial observations from recent decades to show that these sea ridges are getting smaller in both size and number, a smoothing of Arctic topography that has many consequences. The team…
Kolmogorov Turbulence
Turbulent flows are ubiquitous, but they’re also mindbogglingly complex: ever-changing in both time and space across length scales both large and small. To try to unravel this complexity, scientists use simplified model problems. One such simplification is Kolmogorov flow: an imaginary flow where the fluid is forced back and forth sinusoidally. This large-scale forcing puts…
“Trinity”
Inspired by the film Oppenheimer, artist Thomas Blanchard created “Trinity,” a short film imagining a nuclear explosion with macro-scale fluid motion. There’s clever video editing and compositing in this video, but no CGI. Instead, Blanchard filmed fire, sparklers, alcohol inks, pigments and more up close and in stunning detail. As always, his work is a reminder…
Baseball’s Mysterious Rubbing Mud
Since 1938, every ball in Major League Baseball has been covered in a special “rubbing mud” harvested from a secret location in New Jersey. Although the league has tried in the past to replace the mud with an alternative, it’s never stuck. Researchers wondered just what makes this mud so special, so naturally, they brought…
How Sunflowers Follow the Sun
Sunflower blossoms face east, presenting their blooms to the morning sun and the bees that come exploring with it. But before they grow their massive flower, each plant spends the day following the sun, greeting it in the east and tracking it westward all day. Overnight, the plant reorients eastward to start over again. The…
Cooking Perfect Cacio e Pepe
In cooking, sometimes the simplest recipes are the toughest to master. Cacio e pepe — a classic three-ingredient Italian pasta — is an excellent example. Made properly, the sauce of cheese and black pepper combines with starchy water to coat the pasta in a uniform, cheesy sauce. Or, if you’re me, you wind up with…