Celebrating the physics of all that flows with Nicole Sharp, Ph.D.
- Profile
The Chaos of a Bouncing Droplet
This video explores chaos in a bouncing droplet. A drop of silicon oil bounces on a vibrating bath of oil; the thin layer of air injected with each bounce between the droplet and bath keeps them from coalescing. Initially, the droplet behaves like a bouncing ball, jumping once per oscillation. As the vibration amplitude increases,…
Canyon Fire Timelapse
Wildfires continue to burn across Colorado and other parts of the United States. This timelapse video shows 5 days worth of the Waldo Canyon fire. Smoke billows through the night and day, with diurnal temperature changes and winds affecting whether the turbulent plumes rise high or hover on the horizon. It is hard to describe…
How the Sun Drives the Earth
This video describes how the sun’s energy drives wind and ocean currents on earth. As solar winds stream forth from the sun, our magnetosphere deflects the brunt of the impact (creating auroras at the poles) while the atmosphere, land masses, and oceans absorb thermal energy from the sun’s light. Because of our cycles of day…
Traffic Fluid Dynamics
What does traffic have to do with fluid dynamics? Rather a lot, actually! Many parallels exist between traffic and compressible fluid flow. One such example, the concept of a shock wave, is demonstrated in the video above. As the traffic jam develops, the cars experience sudden changes in their velocity and relative distance (in a…
Volcanic Vortices
The volcanoes of the South Sandwich Islands, located in the South Atlantic, have a notable effect on cloud formation in this satellite photo. Visokoi Island, on the right, sheds a wake of large vortices that distort the cloud layer above it. On the left, Zavodovski Island’s volcano does the same, with the added effect of…
New CPU Fan
This video discusses a new quieter and more efficient CPU fan developed by engineers at Sandia National Labs. As the impeller spins, it draws ambient air down the center of the impeller while the shape of the fins forces air past the fins and out radially. As the air flows over the fins, it draws…
Schlieren Montage
Dr. Gary Settles, a world-reknown expert in schlieren photography, shows here a montage of some of his lab’s results, including shockwaves from musical instruments, dogs sniffing, guns firing (both sub- and supersonic), and even snapping a wet towel going supersonic. As Settles jokes, schlieren is all mirrors and hot air. Mirrors are used to shine collimated…
The Vibrating Network
We’ve seen the Faraday instability on vibrating fluids (and granular materials) before. Here researchers explore the effect on a a network of fluid-filled cells. Each square is filled with liquid and small holes near the bottom of each cell ensure the liquid levels are the same throughout the array. Then the entire container is vibrated.…
Inky Vortex
Ink released into water shows the swirling motion inside a vortex ring as well as its deformation and breakup upon stagnation against a wall. Although humans are known to make such vortex rings with smoke or bubbles, they are common in nature as well. Buoyant plumes often feature vortex rings at their head; dolphins and…
Labyrinth
A labyrinthine pattern forms in this timelapse video of a multiphase flow in a Hele-Shaw cell. Initially glass beads are suspended in a glycerol-water solution between parallel glass plates with a central hole. Then the fluid is slowly drained over the course of 3 days at a rate so slow that viscous forces in the fluid are…