Here’s an ultra-cool DIY project: a Bluetooth speaker with ferrofluid music visualization! The music playing through the speaker drives an electromagnet, which causes the magnetic ferrofluid to pulse and shred in time with the music. Check out the video to see the project in action plus footage of the build coming together. (Video and image credit: DAKD Jung; via Gizmodo)
Filmmaker Thomas Blanchard creates a slow and dreamy fluid landscape in “Le Temps et l’Espace”. Made with ink and paints, the visuals are beautiful and serene. For similar works, be sure to check out the “fluids as art” tag! (Image and video credit: T. Blanchard)
“The Golden Sutra” is an homage to the colors of Buddhism, specifically the Longzangjing scripture illustrated in yellow, red, green, blue, and white with letters of gold. Artist Roman De Giuli captures some incredible fluid eddies and streaks with ink, paint, and glitter on paper. (Image and video credit: R. De Giuli)
Metallic paint flows like silver lava in this macro video from Chemical Bouillon. The paint has been mixed with an unknown fluid (my guess is alcohol) to produce the flows we see here. My suspicion is that we’re seeing solutal convection where variations in surface tension create convective flow within the liquid. What do you think? (Video and image credit: Chemical Bouillon)
“Columbia” is a music video illustrated with fluid dynamics, chemistry, and biology by the Beauty of Science team. It’s got everything from precipitation to crystallization, from infrared imagery of wakes to timelapses of growing molds. How many phenomena can you identify? (Video and image credit: Beauty of Science)
Water and sediments swirl in these enhanced satellite photos of China’s Leizhou Peninsula. Color-filtering algorithms have drawn out the details of the flows, but the patterns themselves are real. Tides, currents, sediment, and human activity combine to form these complex flows along the peninsula’s shores. The straight parallel lines seen off Liusha Bay, for example, are likely the result of a traditional fishing method using nets suspended off poles anchored into the seabed. (Image credit: N. Kuring; via NASA Earth Observatory)
In “Geodaehan” Roman De Giuli’s macro fluid art mimics massive landscapes. The film takes us over deltas, rivers, glaciers, and landslides. Some look like earthbound locations, others look like something from Mars or Titan. All are, in fact, paint, ink, and glitter on paper! It’s truly incredible how artists capture large-scale fluid physics on such a tiny canvas. (Image and video credit: R. De Giuli)
Today’s cameras and drones capture volcanic eruptions in ways that were unthinkable in years past. This incredible footage shows the recent eruption in Iceland as it glows in the night. I love the crisp details of the flow. You can clearly see how the hotter, molten lava moves compared to the cooling crust. There’s some great footage of spurting fountains and blocks of lava getting swept along by the river. Enjoy! (Image and video credit: B. Steinbekk; submitted by jpshoer)
Radiation is invisible, but it’s not too difficult to build an apparatus that lets you see it. This video shows the ghostly aftermath of passing radiation in a cloud chamber, one of the first set-ups used to study radiation. The chamber contains a radioactive source and chilled isopropyl alcohol. The alcohol forms a supersaturated vapor — essentially a cloud in waiting — inside the chamber.
When a radioactive particle gets emitted from the source, it streaks through the chamber, colliding with atoms and ionizing them. Those ions then serve as nucleation sites where alcohol condenses into droplets. It’s these condensation trails that we see bloom and decay in the particle’s wake. (Image and video credit: L. Gledhill)
Filmmaker Chris Bryan captures surfer Kipp Caddy as he rides an enormous wave in “Dancing With Danger.” Nothing quite captures the majesty of these powerful flows like high-speed videography. Enjoy the break, the spray, and those awesome rib vortices. (Image and video credit: C. Bryan)