FYFD

Search results for: “art”

  • “Milky WaY”

    “Milky WaY”

    Photographer Paulo Stagnaro uses milk and food coloring in his series “Milky WaY”. Despite the simple ingredients, the photos illustrate the enormous variety of shape and form in fluid dynamics. Surface tension, diffusion, and intentional mixing create abstract and ephemeral portraits of fluid motion. For similar work, see Pery Bruge’s art or just try browsing through FYFD’s “fluids as art” tag for more examples of science and art intersecting. (Photo credit: P. Stagnaro; submitted by Stephanie M.)

  • Turbulence and Star Formation

    Turbulence and Star Formation

    Galaxy clusters are objects containing hundreds or thousands of galaxies immersed in hot gas. This gas glows brightly in X-ray, as seen in the Perseus (top) and Virgo (bottom) clusters above. Over time, the gas near the center of the clusters should cool, generating many new stars, but this is not what astronomers observe. New research suggests turbulence may prevent this star formation. The supermassive black holes near the center of these galaxy clusters pump enormous amounts of energy into their surroundings through jets of particles. Those jets churn the gas of the cluster, generating turbulence, which ultimately dissipates as heat. It is this turbulent heating astronomers think counters the radiative cooling of the gas, thereby keeping the gas hot enough to prevent star formation. You can read more about the findings in the research paper.  (Image credits: NASA/Chandra/I. Zhuravleva et al.; via io9)

  • Momentary Crown

    Momentary Crown

    When a drop falls on a liquid film, its impact drives a thin liquid sheet called the ejecta upward and outward from the point of impact. Within  milliseconds, tiny perturbations develop in the ejecta and begin growing exponentially. These become the distinctive spikes of the crown. The momentum from the impact drives the ejecta and spikes further outward until it overcomes surface tension’s ability to hold the liquid crown together. Tiny droplets escape the crown before the ejecta comes crashing down. The whole process takes only a few hundred milliseconds from start to finish.  (Photo credit: S. Jung et al.)

  • Kelvin-Helmholtz Clouds

    Kelvin-Helmholtz Clouds

    When differing layers of fluid move past one another, friction between them causes shear. This shear quickly transforms a simple flat interface between fluid layers into a wavy unstable boundary that resembles a series of breaking ocean waves. This effect is known as the Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability. In the atmosphere, this instability causes air layers with differing temperatures and moisture content to form wave-like clouds where the two layers meet. Other examples of the effect are widespread. On earth, many ocean waves are generated by wind shearing the water; elsewhere in our solar system, the cloud bands of Jupiter are lined with spinning eddies from the KH instability. (Photo credit: H. Bondo)

  • “Courants et Couleurs”

    Although flow visualization is a scientific technique, there is very much an art to it. Flow structures are, by their nature, ephemeral. To capture them, one must design an experiment that introduces dye into regions of interest without altering the flow significantly and without either ignoring or obscuring important physics. One of the great masters of this scientific art was Henri Werlé, whose extensive flow visualization work at France’s national aerospace lab is documented in the short film above. The film includes examples of simple geometries, full aircraft models, subsonic flow, shock waves, and more. eFluids has a whole gallery of Werlé images, too. Take a few minutes to enjoy the mesmerizing beauty of these experiments and appreciate the talents of those who made them possible. If you have questions about specific clips, feel free to ask! (Video credit: H. Werlé/ONERA; via J. Hertzberg)

  • Featured Video Play Icon

    Inside the Strait of Gibraltar

    When a fluid is stratified into layers, it’s possible to have waves generated and transmitted along the interface between layers. Because these waves remain inside the bulk fluid, they are called internal waves. They often occur in the atmosphere or the ocean as fluids with different properties move past changing terrain. The Strait of Gibraltar is an excellent source of internal waves. The tidal exchange of waters between the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean takes place through a narrow corridor interrupted by the peak of Camarinal Sill. The internal waves generated by the constriction are large enough that their effect on the surface flow is visible to satellites. The video above visualizations data from a numerical simulation of flow through the Strait, showing the obstacles, flow, and wave structures generated. (Video credit: J.C. Sanchez Garrido et al.)

  • Featured Video Play Icon

    “Cymatic Sun”

    “Cymatic Sun” from artist Lachlan Turczan uses vibrating fluids to generate mesmerizing and surreal visuals. At some points distinct Faraday waves are visible on the surface. At other times, there is simply a blur of motion and refracted light. Check out my “fluids as art” tag for many more great examples of fluid dynamics and art merging. (Video credit and submission: L. Turczan)

  • Featured Video Play Icon

    Shooting Droplets with Lasers

    Last week we saw what happens when a solid projectile hits a water droplet; today’s video shows the impact of a laser pulse on a droplet. Several things happen here, but at very different speeds. When the laser impacts, it vaporizes part of the droplet within nanoseconds. A shock wave spreads from the point of impact and a cloud of mist sprays out. This also generates pressure on the impact face of the droplet, but it takes milliseconds–millions of nanoseconds–for the droplet to start moving and deforming. The subsequent explosion of the drop depends both on the laser energy and focus, which determine the size of the impulse imparted to the droplet. The motivation for the work is extreme ultraviolet lithography–a technique used for manufacturing next-generation semiconductor integrated circuits–which uses lasers to vaporize microscopic droplets during the manufacturing process. (Video credit: A. Klein et al.)

  • Hydrofoil Cavitation

    Hydrofoil Cavitation

    A cavitation-induced bubbly sheet flows over the upper surface of a hydrofoil in the image above. Cavitation can occur when local pressure in a liquid drops below the vapor pressure, causing a cavity to form. Due to its angle of attack, water flowing over the upper surface of the hydrofoil is accelerated. The high flow velocities and accompanying low pressures over the top of the hydrofoil produce cavitation bubbles which continue to flow over and off the surface. Because cavitation bubbles implode when the pressure again increases, they can cause serious damage to solid surfaces. This is why generating cavitation can damage propellers or shatter a bottle. (Photo credit: R. Arndt et al.)

  • Shooting Droplets

    Shooting Droplets

    This animation shows high-speed video of a polystyrene particle striking a falling water droplet. Under the right conditions, the particle rips through the droplet, stretching the water into a bell-shaped lamella extending from a thicker rim. When the particle detaches, surface tension rapidly collapses the lamella into a ring which destabilizes. Thin ligaments and droplets fly off the crown-like ring as momentum overcomes surface tension’s ability to hold the droplet together. Be sure to check out the full video on YouTube or later next month at the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting. (Yes, I will be there!) (Image credit: V. Sechenyh et al., source video)

More posts