Celebrating the physics of all that flows with Nicole Sharp, Ph.D.
- Profile
Recreating the Rings of Power Opening
Everyone loves a good title sequence, especially when they feature neat visuals. Many who watched “The Rings of Power” zeroed in immediately on their use of cymatics — visuals born from the vibrations of sound. In the video above, Steve Mould delves into the physics behind cymatics and recreates patterns similar to those in the…
“Crystallizing Epsom Salts”
Candy-colored crystals emerge from a salty liquid in this macro video of Epsom salt crystallization by Karl Gaff. The video was an honorable mention in the 2022 edition of the Nikon Small World in Motion competition. The wild colors in the video come from illumination with polarized light, which makes the crystals appear different colors…
Testing Full-Size Engines
Engineers can often use small-scale models to test the physics of their creations, but sometimes there’s no substitute for going large. In this photo, we see a full-size commercial engine used on an airplane, mounted at the Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial (INTA) in Madrid. Behind the engine, in red, is an optical rig used…
Moths and Beetles in Flight
Watching insects take flight in high-speed video is always mesmerizing. So often their wings look too small and fragile to lift their bulbous bodies, but they manage the feat easily. I especially like to watch how much their wings flex during each up- and downstroke. So often we think that stiffer wings — like those…
Droplet Bounce
A droplet falling on a liquid bath may, if slow enough, rebound off the surface. Its impact sends out a string of ripples — capillary waves — on the bath’s surface and sends the droplet itself into jiggling paroxysms. A new pre-print study delves into this process through a combination of experiment, simulation, and modeling.…
Chemical Flowers
These “flowers” blossom as two injected chemicals react in the narrow space between two transparent plates. The chemical reaction produces a darker ring that develops a streaky outer edge due to competition between convection and chemical diffusion. To show how gravity affects the instability, the researchers repeated the experiment on a parabolic flight. In microgravity…
The Delta Series
It’s easy in the rush of our daily lives to forget just how dynamic rivers are. In his “Delta Series” conservation photographer Paul Nicklen explores that ever-changing nature from above the Colorado River delta. With the ongoing megadrought in this region and ever-increasing demands for more water, the Colorado no longer flows to the ocean.…
Turbulence in Accretion Disks
Accretion disks form everywhere, from around young, planet-building stars to massive black holes. As matter circles in the disk, it slowly loses angular momentum and falls inward toward the central gravitational body. But the details of this process have long vexed astronomers. The low-viscosity environment of gas and dust in accretion disks simply is not…
Summer Melt
A warm summer in 2022 has resulted in record melting on Svalbard. Located halfway between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole, more than half of Svalbard is normally covered in ice. But with glaciers in retreat and firn — a surface layer of compressed porous snow — melting, pale blue ice is getting direct…