Celebrating the physics of all that flows with Nicole Sharp, Ph.D.
- Profile
Nanoconfined Water
Water is a decidedly weird substance. It’s densest above its freezing point; it has a slippery liquid-like layer on its solid form; and, in the right form, it can bend like a wire. So it’s not surprising that water demonstrates some odd behaviors when it’s confined inside a space so narrow it’s only one molecule…
Simulating Schools
In nature, fish school for many reasons: protection from predators, increased sensing, and hydrodynamic advantages. To capture this complex behavior, researchers are building their own digital fish, governed by known rules. Here, scientists give each fish social rules — based on vision range and preferred distance from a neighbor — and hydrodynamic rules — based…
Soapy Solutions
When a drop of soap falls into a pool of water, its surface-loving molecules spread out on the water’s surface. Exactly how the soap spreads depends on the local concentration of its surfactant molecules, which create areas with different surface tensions that cause flow. All in all, it’s a tough process to predict because it…
Draining a Bottle
Turn a bottle upside-down to empty it, and you’ll hear a loud glug-glug-glug as the liquid in the bottle empties and air rushes in. In this video, researchers aim a high-speed camera at the very first bubble that forms during the process. Once the bubble reaches the wider area of the bottle, it tends to…
Reflections of the Storm
Fall and winter storms rip Lake Erie with violent waves. Photographer Trevor Pottelberg of Ontario captures the dramatic eruptions of mist and spray from these massive, turbulent waves. It’s amazing how many different characters a wave can take on. Just compare Pottelberg’s waves with those caught by Lloyd Meudell or Ray Collins. It’s almost hard…
Waves in Liquid Crystals
Liquid crystals are now ubiquitous in displays, but scientists are still discovering new properties for this state of matter. Here, a team explores nematic liquid crystals, whose rod-like shape rotates in three dimensions as they apply a voltage. The layer of liquid crystals is held between polarizing filters, creating regions of light and dark that…
Classifying Waves
In a lab, researchers create their waves in a long, clear-sided tank, where they can observe how the waves form, travel, and interact. To generate the wave, they use a plate, attached to a piston. Push the water at one end, and a wave forms. The type of wave that forms depends on both the…
Airflow in the Opera
Like so many other performers, the singers and musicians of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House were left without a way to safely perform when the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic began in early 2020. In search of safe ways to perform and rehearse, the Met turned to researchers at nearby Princeton University, who worked directly with the performers…
In a Box, Shaken
Tidal areas experience lots of oscillating, back-and-forth flow that builds up patterns in the sand below. In this experiment, researchers investigate a similar situation by filling a box with water and spherical particles, then shaking the box from side-to-side. Inside the box, the particles line up in chains that are perpendicular to the direction of…
Walking in the Wake
Flow visualization is an important tool in fluid dynamics, and scientists have many ways to capture and visualize flow information. But our methods are not the only — or even the best — ways to express a flow. Here, engineers teamed up with architects and artists to explore the flow behind an oscillating cylinder. When…