Surface tension creates a glassy, smooth layer of water over U.S. swimmer Tyler Clary the instant before he surfaces as he competes in the backstroke. Surface tension arises from intermolecular forces between water molecules. In the bulk of the liquid, any given water molecule is being pulled on in every direction by the surrounding molecules, which results in zero net force. At the surface, however, molecules only experience forces from those to the side and below them. As a result, these molecules are pulled inwards, forcing the liquid to take on a form with minimal area. (Photo credit: Getty Images; submitted by drhawkins)
Category: Phenomena
Droplet Springs
Prior to reaching terminal velocity, a falling droplet typically oscillates between a prolate shape (like an American football about to be kicked) and an oblate one (like that same football when thrown or carried). As explained by Minute Laboratory, this oscillation behaves very similarly to a mass on a spring. For a spring/mass system, the frequency of oscillation is related to the spring’s stiffness; for the falling droplet, it is instead governed by surface tension. If only high schools had high-speed cameras, this would make a fantastic fluids lab experiment! (Video credit: Minute Laboratory; submitted by Pascal W.)
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Phytoplankton and Sediments
Pale sediments are carried out to sea by the rivers of the Mergui Archipelago of Myanmar. Dark blue ocean waters mix with the sediment, creating turbulent swirls in this natural color satellite image. With the sediment comes valuable nutrients for plant life in the ocean, which can prompt the formation of phytoplankton blooms. (Photo credit: Michael Taylor/Landsat/NASA)
Slapping Sheets
Here fluid is ejected as two flat plates collide, creating a sheet of silicone oil. The initially smooth sheet forms a thicker ligament about the edge. Gravity causes the sheet to bend downward like a curtain, and growing instabilities along the ligament cause the development of a wavy edge. The points of the waves develop droplets that eject outward. Not long after this photograph, the entire liquid sheet will collapse into ligaments and flying droplets. (Photo credit: B. Chang, B. Slama, and S. Jung)
A Colorful Rinse
In this image a jet of water (clear/white) is rinsing a solution of polyacrylamide (PAM; blue) off a silicon surface. In the center, a hydraulic jump marks the interface where fast-moving laminar flow changes to a slower turbulent one. At the same time, the water, which is less viscous than the PAM, creates viscous finger-like protrusions into the blue liquid as it rinses the surface clean. (Photo credit: T. Walker, T. Hsu, and G. Fuller)
Mixing Physics
One of the most commonly observed fluid instabilities is the Rayleigh-Taylor instability, which occurs between fluids of differing densities. It’s most often seen when a denser fluid sits over a lower density fluid. In the video above, this is demonstrated experimentally: a lower density green fluid mixes in with the clear, higher density fluid. This is the classical case in which each initial region of fluid is uniform in density prior to the removal of the barrier. But what happens when each zone has its own variation in density? This is the second case. Before the barrier is removed, each region of the tank has a varying–or stratified–fluid density. In this case, the unmixed fluids are stably stratified, meaning that the fluid density increases with depth. At the barrier interface, the two separate fluids are still unstably stratified–with the denser fluid on top–so when the barrier is removed, the Rayleigh-Taylor instability still drives their mixing. Because of the stable stratification within the original unmixed fluids, the mixing region after the barrier’s removal is more limited. (Video credit: M. D. Wykes and S. B. Dalziel; via PhysicsCentral by APS)
Ocean Waves in the Sky
These wave-like Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds can form due to shear between different layers of air in the atmosphere. When one region of air has a higher velocity than the other, their interface forms a shear layer, which can break down in this wavy pattern. In this case, the lower layer of air was moist enough to form condensation and clouds, making the pattern visible to the naked eye. (Photo credit: Gene Hart; via Flow Visualization)
The Kaye Effect
The Kaye effect is an instability particular to a falling stream of non-Newtonian fluids with shear-thinning properties. When these fluids are deformed, their viscosity decreases; this, for example, is why ketchup flows out of a bottle more easily once it’s moving. Like most fluids, the falling shampoo creates a heap on the surface. The Kaye effect is kicked off when the incoming jet creates enough shear on part of the heap that the local viscosity decreases, causing the streamer–or outgoing jet–to slip off the side of the heap. As the incoming jet continues, a dimple forms in the heap where the streamer originates. As the dimple deepens, the streamer will rise until it strikes the incoming jet. This perturbation to the system collapses the streamer and ends the Kaye effect. This video also has a good explanation of the physics, along with demonstrations of a stable form of the Kaye effect in which the streamer cascades down an incline. (Video credit: Minute Laboratory; inspired by infplusplus)
Saffman-Taylor Demo
In this video, a thin film of viscous glycerin sits between two glass plates. As the plates are forced apart, air gets entrained from either side, causing finger-like instabilities to form between the two fluids. This is a result of the Saffman-Taylor mechanism. The final dendritic pattern depends on the fluid viscosities, surface tension, and any non-uniformities in the apparatus. (Video credit and submission by M. Goodman)
Flame Thrower Physics
This high-speed video–which we do not recommend recreating yourself–features burning gasoline flying through the air. In addition to the sheer entertainment value, there are some neat physics. In the first segment, when they kick a tray of gasoline, one can see lovely fiery vortices forming around the backside of the tray as it’s launched. This is the start of the tray’s wake. In the latter half of the video, they launch the flaming gasoline from a bucket. Notice how the flames are in the wake while liquid gasoline streams out ahead without burning. This is because it is primarily gaseous petrol that is flammable. As the liquid fuel breaks up into droplets heated by the burning gasoline vapors nearby, the rest of the fuel changes to a vapor state and catches flame. (Video credit: The Slow Mo Guys; submitted by Will T)
