Celebrating the physics of all that flows with Nicole Sharp, Ph.D.
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Supernova Rings
Some 20,000 years ago, a massive star blew off a ring of dust and gas that expanded into the surrounding interstellar medium. Later, in 1987, the star exploded as supernova 1987A. That explosion lit the surrounding area, revealing a clumpy ring astronomers have struggled to explain. But a new team believes they have a fluid…
Millennium Falcon’s Glide
In what seems to be a tradition now, a group at MIT imagined how the Millennium Falcon would perform if it lost its engines during atmospheric flight. Their hypothetical scenario took place in the Battle of Endor, with the Falcon flying at an altitude of 2 kilometers.* Could Han Solo and Chewbecca safely glide the…
“Divebomb”
Seabirds like gannets and boobies are engineered for diving. They fly to a certain altitude, locate fish underwater, and then fold themselves into a streamlined projectile. With this, they plunge into the water at high-speed, positioned to protect themselves from the forces of impact. Under the water, they dart among their prey, hunting with singular…
Unsticking in Jumps
Soft materials tend to be sticky, and once they’re adhered to a surface, they’re often harder to remove than they were to attach — think of Scotch tape stuck to a desk. This difficulty separating sticky things — known as adhesion hysteresis — has been attributed to various causes, like energy lost to viscoelasticity or…
Kirigami Parachutes
To fly stably, parachutes need to deform and allow some air to pass through their canopy. In this video, researchers investigate kirigimi parachutes, inspired by a form of paper art that uses cuts to create three-dimensional shapes. After laser-cutting, these disks are dropped — or placed in a wind tunnel — to observe how they…
Seeking Rogue Wave Origins
Rogue waves — rare waves much larger than any surrounding waves — have long been a part of sailors’ tales, but their existence has only been confirmed relatively recently. The exact mechanisms behind them are still a matter of debate. Laboratory experiments with mechanically-produced waves have created miniature rogue waves, but we still lack real-world…
Evolving Fingers
If you sandwich a viscous fluid between two plates and inject a less viscous fluid, you’ll get viscous fingers that spread and split as they grow. This research poster depicts that situation with a slight twist: the viscous fluid (transparent in the image) is shear-thinning. That means its viscosity drops when it’s deformed. In this…
Geyser Sculptures
In the remote landscape of Tajikistan, photographer Øystein Sture Aspelund discovered a small geyser near a high-altitude lake. With a fast shutter, he “froze” the shapes of the eruption, capturing bubbly columns, mushrooms, and splashes. I love the sense of texture here. Aspelund’s photographs really highlight the difference between a geyser and an artificial fountain:…
Why Inkjet Paper Curls
Printed pages from inkjet printers tends to curl up over time. Researchers found that this long-term curl correlates with the migration of glycerol — one of the solvents used in inkjet ink — through the paper’s fiber layers toward the unprinted side. The glycerol migration makes the cellulose fibers in the paper swell up, causing…
Bubbles Encased in Ice
If you’ve ever made ice in a freezer, you’ve probably noticed the streaks of frozen bubbles inside the ice. In its liquid state, water is good at dissolving various gases — like the carbon dioxide in sparkling water. During freezing, though, those gases cannot remain in solution; the water simply doesn’t have space between its…