Celebrating the physics of all that flows with Nicole Sharp, Ph.D.
- Profile
Backswimmers
Backswimmers rule the surface of ponds, streams, and other bodies of water. These insects spend much of their time clinging just beneath the air-water interface, where they hunt larvae and other insects. They use oversized, oar-shaped back legs to row, and they breathe using an air bubble that clings to their abdomen like a personal…
“Haut”
In Susi Sie’s “Haut” the camera seems to fly over ever-shifting landscapes. In reality, these are macro images, created (I think) by dyes and patterns atop a water bath. But they look like vistas we could find on Earth or Mars — giant dune fields, calving glaciers, and river-divided canyons. For something similar in color,…
Optimizing Wind Farms Collectively
In a typical wind farm, each wind turbine aligns itself to the local wind direction. In an ideal world where every turbine was completely independent, this would maximize the power produced. But with changing wind directions and many turbines, it’s inevitable that upstream wind turbines will interfere with the flow their downstream neighbors see. So,…
Cloud Streets
Parallel lines of cumulus clouds stream over the Labrador Sea in this satellite image. These cloud streets are formed when cold, dry winds blow across comparatively warm waters. As the air warms and moistens over the open water, it rises until it hits a temperature inversion, which forces it to roll to the side, forming…
Predicting Alien Ice
Europa is an ocean world trapped beneath an ice shell tens of kilometers thick. To better understand what we might find in those oceans, researchers turn to analogs here on Earth, looking at Antarctica’s ice shelves. Beneath those shelves, ice forms via two mechanisms: the first, congelation ice, freezes directly onto the existing ice-water interface.…
Diving Together
Two spheres dropped into water next to one another form asymmetric cavities. A single ball’s cavity is perfectly symmetric, and so are two spheres’, provided they are far enough apart. But for close impacts, the spheres influence one another, creating a mirror image. The same asymmetric cavity also forms when a sphere is dropped near…
Jupiter in Infrared
These recent composite images from the James Webb Space Telescope show Jupiter in stunning infrared detail. They’re the result of several images taken in different infrared bands, then combined and rendered in visible light. In general, the redder colors show longer wavelengths and the bluer ones show shorter wavelengths. Jupiter’s cloud bands appear in beautiful…
Finger Painting Physics
Spreading paint with a brush or with fingers is familiar activity for most people. It’s also similar to processes used in industry for spreading thin layers of paint and other complex fluids. In a recent study, researchers took a look at how a soft, elastic blade (similar to a paintbrush or one’s fingers) spreads shear-thinning…
Blooms in the Black Sea
The Black Sea gains its name from its dark waters, but those waters don’t stay dark year-round. In this natural color satellite image, streaks of milky blue bloom through the summer waters, thanks to the presence of a species of phytoplankton armored with white calcium carbonate. Despite their microscopic size, the phytoplankton’s presence is visible…
Recycling Urban Heat
In urban areas, buildings and concrete surfaces create a heat effect that can make temperatures in the city substantially higher than in nearby rural areas. That heat isn’t just above ground, either. It seeps into the subsurface, measurably increasing groundwater temperatures. In a recent study, authors suggest this excess subsurface heat could be reclaimed and…