Photographer Edward Horsford uses high-speed photography to capture water balloons as they burst. On Earth, of course, gravity wins over surface tension, but the results are very different in microgravity. See the technical description for how Horsford gets his shots and look at more of his work on Flickr. (via NPR)
Category: Art
Three Flows in One
These plumes of smoke demonstrate the three types of fluid flow: laminar, transitional, and turbulent. At the bottom of the photo, the plumes are smooth and orderly, as is typical for laminar flow. At the top, the smoke’s movement is chaotic and intermittent, full of turbulent eddies. Between these two stages, the flow is in transition; there is still some semblance of order to it, but disturbances in the plume are getting amplified and breaking down into turbulence.
Photo credit: J. Russo
Canon Sound Sculptures
In a new series of ads for Canon, colorful paints are placed on a speaker cone and filmed at high speed to create beautiful “sound sculptures”. Paint, like oobleck, is a non-Newtonian fluid but does not react the same when excited by sound because it is shear-thinning. (When painting, you want the paint to run off the brush easily but not drip when it’s on the wall; hence, shear-thinning.) Both the photos and videos are lovely examples of fluid mechanics as art. Watch how they did it. # (Via jshoer, @ftematt, @JetForMe)
Bubble Art
Bubbles are all about surface tension and minimizing energy. Arrange things just right and you can even make square ones. (via JetForMe)
Tempus II
While not strictly fluid mechanical Philip Heron’s Tempus II features some great slow-motion action of fluids. (Submitted by @ftematt)
Ferrofluid Art
Magnetism and fluid dynamics collide with ferrofluids! Ferrofluids are a suspension of ferrous material in oil or water, but their behavior around magnets can elevate them into a work of art (or a car commercial). Why leave it to professionals, though, when you can make your own ferrofluid?
Liquid Umbrella
Droplet collisions, usually with water or milk, are popular with photographers for their artistic value. As stunning as these still images are, high-speed video makes the effect even better.
Photo credit; See also: Liquid sculpture and Flickr
