When a droplet encounters a surface much hotter than its boiling point, it forms a thin layer of vapor that insulates the liquid from the surface. But this Leidenfrost effect Keep reading
Category: Research
Food-Based Fluid Dynamics
The kitchen is a rich source of fluid physics. From cocktails to coffee, from crepes to tempura, food is full of physics. In fact, it’s not hard to relate almost Keep reading
Viscoelasticity and Bubbles
Bursting bubbles enhance our drinks, seed our clouds, and affect our health. Because these bubbles are so small, they’re easily affected by changes at the interface, like surfactants, Marangoni effects, Keep reading
Bravo!
Applauding is a familiar activity, but, as you stand for an encore in the concert hall, do you think about how you hold your hands and how that affects your Keep reading
Dancing Peanuts
Bartenders in Argentina sometimes entertain patrons by tossing a few peanuts into their beer. Initially, the peanuts sink, but after a few seconds they rise, wreathed in bubbles. Once on Keep reading
Why Sea Foams
Seawater froths and foams in ways that freshwater rarely does. A new study pinpoints the ocean’s electrolytes as the reason bubbles resist merging there. By studying the final moments before Keep reading
Underwater Volcanic Flows
The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption in December 2021 was the most violent in 140 years, and we are still learning from its aftermath. A recent study focuses on the Keep reading
Packing Disks
Liquid crystals, bottles of pills, and hoppers of grains can all involve disk-shaped particles. To better understand how disks pack together, researchers studied how disks in a box orient themselves Keep reading
Forests Slow Avalanches
In snowy mountainous regions, avalanches are a dangerous and destructive problem. Researchers studying the mechanisms of these flows have a suggestion: plant more trees. A group of researchers found that Keep reading
Scooting Droplets
As a child, I always loved watching rain on the windows as I rode in the car. Hemispherical droplets got stretched by the wind flowing over them. But they never Keep reading