Density Drift
This colorful photo shows three fluids — oil, water, and dish soap — illuminated by the rainbow reflection of a CD. The differing densities of each fluid creates a stratification Keep reading
Search Results for: density
Mixing in a Winter Lake
A frozen winter lake can hide surprisingly complex flows beneath its placid surface. Since water is densest at 4 degrees Celsius — just above the freezing point — mixing two Keep reading
Listen to a Martian Dust Devil
A lucky encounter led the Perseverance rover to record the first-ever sound of a dust devil on Mars. The rover happened to have its microphone on (something that only happens Keep reading
Chemical Flowers
These “flowers” blossom as two injected chemicals react in the narrow space between two transparent plates. The chemical reaction produces a darker ring that develops a streaky outer edge due Keep reading
Flowers Through a Hazy Veil
A smoke-like haze obscures colorful bouquets in these photographs from artist Robert Peek. To achieve the effect, Peek submerges his subjects underwater with white dye that sinks due to its Keep reading
Encapsulating Drops
Sometimes a droplet needs a little protection while it’s traveling to its destination. When that’s the case, we often try to encapsulate it in a layer of material that won’t Keep reading
Bubbles in Turbulence
In nature and industry, swarms of bubbles* often encounter turbulence in their surrounding fluid. To study this situation, researchers used numerical simulation to observe bubbles across a range of density, Keep reading
Aqueous Chandeliers
Colorful dyes falling through water form chandelier-like, branching shapes. These formations are the result of a slight density difference between the heavier dyes and the surrounding water. As the dye Keep reading
Asperitas Formation
In 2017, the World Meteorological Organization named a new cloud type: the wave-like asperitas cloud. How these rare and distinctive clouds form is still a matter of debate, but this Keep reading
Merging Along Wires
As oil slides down two slowly converging wires, the droplets will merge into a sheet that stretches between both wires. When this happens can vary somewhat but occurs somewhere around Keep reading