FYFD

Category: Art

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    Paint Ejection

    Shaking paint on a speaker cone and filming it in high speed is an oldie but a goodie. Here, artist Linden Gledhill films paint ejection at 10,000 frames per second, giving us a glorious view of the process. As the paint flies upward, accelerated by the speaker, it stretches into long ligaments. As the ligaments thin, surface tension concentrates the paint into droplets, connected together by thinning strands. When those strands break, they snap back toward the remaining paint, imprinting swirling threads of different colors, thanks to their momentum. Eventually, surface tension wins the tug-of-war and transforms all the paint into droplets. (Video and image credit: L. Gledhill)

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    “Turbulence”

    In his recent short film, artist Roman De Giuli explores turbulence using metallic paints and inks in a fishtank. The effects are beautiful: sparkling pigments dispersing in clouds, mushroom- and umbrella-shaped Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities, and lots of swirling eddies. It’s exactly the kind of eyecandy to kick off your weekend with! (Image and video credit: R. De Giuli)

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    “aBiogenesis”

    Many theories posit the physical and chemical origins of life. In the short film “aBiogenesis”, CGI artist Markos Kay imagines one such theory — the lipid world theory — in which cellular life began as a soup contained within immiscible fatty membranes. Chemicals trapped within these vesicles interacted and ultimately formed the building blocks of life as we know it, including RNA. Kay’s interpretation is a beautiful exploration of this intersection of physics, chemistry, and biology. (Image and video credit: M. Kay; via Colossal)

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    “Iridescent”

    Soft colors and sudden coalescence combine in this short film from Susi Sie’s team. The visuals rely on liquid lenses (likely oil) floating atop a water bath. You can see how the fluids get manipulated in their behind-the-scenes video, which also provides a peek at how the sound effects get made. (Video credit: S. Sie et al.)

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    “The Dark Days”

    “The Dark Days” is the third film in artist Thomas Blanchard’s N-UPRISING series. Like its siblings, this film features plants and insects, along with creeping — and sometimes overwhelming — fluid flows. The vivid colors of the orchids here make an uncomfortable juxtaposition with the air raid horns, sirens, and sounds of war that make up the soundtrack. It works well as a metaphor for life these days, where some of us can enjoy the new and the beautiful while others are caught up in war and suffering. (Image and video credit: T. Blanchard)

  • Beneath the Waves

    Beneath the Waves

    Surfing looks entirely different from below the wave. Photographer Ben Thouard captures his images by freediving and observing what goes on overhead. Whether the surfers nearby ride a barrel roll or bail into the churn, the results are incredible. You can find more of Thouard’s artwork on his website and Instagram. (Image credit: B. Thouard; via Oceanographic Magazine)

  • Watery Bullseye

    Watery Bullseye

    Concentric circles of colorful water float in the frame of photographer Jack Long’s images. At first glance, the liquid sculptures appear to be the splashes from one or more falling objects. But, in fact, Long reports to Colossal that the water burbles up from a custom-designed fountain. The effect is a very neat one, and I love examining the details of Long’s images. The rim of each ring is visibly thickened and often wavy in a regular pattern, hinting at an underlying Plateau-Rayleigh instability driving the inevitable break-up. Find more of Long’s work at his website and on Instagram. (Image credit: J. Long; via Colossal)

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    “A Sense of Scale – Reminiscence”

    In so much of fluid dynamics, size does not matter. We see the same patterns mirrored across nature from a fuel injection nozzle to galactic clusters. And no one plays with that sense of scale better than artist Roman De Giuli, whose microscale practical effects give the impression of flying above glittering alien coastlines. Ink and paint squeeze around craggy islands, leaving perfect streamlines to mark their passage. Fractal fingers expand like river deltas seeking the path to the sea. Enjoy more of De Giuli’s work on his website and Instagram. (Image and video credit: R. De Giuli; via Colossal)

  • Reflections of the Storm

    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 to imagine all of these waves growing from the same wind-driven start. See more from Pottelberg on his website and Instagram. (Image credit: T. Pottelberg; via Colossal)

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    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 free to move forward-and-backward the cylinder’s wake takes on three distinctively forms. The team explored many ways to display the wakes — drawings, 3D-printed sculptures, and more — before ultimately building an art installation that lets visitors walk through the wake to experience it. I love the creativity of these interdisciplinary efforts. To see a similar, yet very different, take on the wake of a cylinder, check out this interpretative dance. (Image and video credit: P. Boersma et al.)