Tag: art

Quick-Drying, Fast-Cracking
Water droplets filled with nanoparticles leave behind deposits as they evaporate. Like a coffee ring, particles in the evaporating droplet tend to gather at the drop’s edge (left). As the water evaporates, the deposit grows inward (center) and cracks start to form radially. After just a couple minutes, the solid deposit covers the entire area of the original droplet and is shot through with cracks (right).
Researchers found that the cracks’ patterns and propagation are predictable through a model that balances the local elastic energy and and the energy cost of fracture. They also found that the spacing between radial cracks depends on the deposit’s local thickness. Besides explaining the patterns seen here, these cracking models could help analyze old paintings, where cracks could hide information about the artist’s methods and the artwork’s condition. (Image and research credit: P. Lilit et al.; via Physics Today)
Fediverse Reactions
February 13, 2025
Kinetic Sculptures by Anthony Howe
These mesmerizing kinetic sculptures built by Anthony Howe are entirely wind-driven. It’s not necessarily apparent in these images, but these sculptures are several meters tall and weigh hundreds of kilograms, but they’re engineered so precisely that the slightest breeze sets them silently spinning. See more of Howe’s art in action on his YouTube channel. (Video and image credits: A. Howe; via Colossal)
June 25, 2021
“Stream”
Roman De Giuli’s short film “Stream” explores a macro world of color and flow, with a few glimpses behind-the-scenes at how the visuals get made. The artistic canvas here is a glass plate; the materials are oil, ink, and water. As simple as the ingredients are, though, the view is complex and enchanting. It’s amazing to see just how much goes on in an area the size of one’s thumb. (Image and video credit: R. De Giuli)
June 18, 2021
“Geodaehan”
In “Geodaehan” Roman De Giuli’s macro fluid art mimics massive landscapes. The film takes us over deltas, rivers, glaciers, and landslides. Some look like earthbound locations, others look like something from Mars or Titan. All are, in fact, paint, ink, and glitter on paper! It’s truly incredible how artists capture large-scale fluid physics on such a tiny canvas. (Image and video credit: R. De Giuli)
April 16, 2021
“Liquid Skies”
“Liquid Skies” by Roman De Giuli is full of colorful but nebulous fluid imagery. The visuals consist of liquids like paint, ink, and alcohol filmed in macro atop paper. You can catch a behind-the-scenes glimpse of De Giuli at work here. (Image and video credit: R. De Giuli)
March 12, 2021
“Colors”
Paint, soap, bleach, oil, and oat milk combine to create the gorgeous colorscapes of Thomas Blanchard’s short film “Colors”. Watch as droplets burst and waves of color flow past. It’s a lovely break from whatever you’re dealing with at the moment, and at less than 3 minutes long, you can spare the time! (Image and video credit: T. Blanchard)
October 23, 2020
Painting on Water With Ebru
Ebru is the South West Asian art of painting atop water, similar to suminagashi in Japan or paper marbling in European culture. This video takes you inside the studio of Garip Ay, a Turkish ebru artist, letting you observe some of the tools and techniques he uses. Ay’s painting are incredibly dynamic, transforming from one image to something entirely different as he applies more dye, adds a surfactant, or draws a clean brush through the liquid. (Video and image credit: Great Big Story; artist: G. Ay; via Colossal)
September 4, 2020
“Waves”
The “Waves” installation by artist Daniel Palacios appears deceptively simple, just a rope mounted between two motors. But once the motors start spinning, it is anything but. The installation shifts in response to those around it, creating varying numbers of steady, standing waves or even wildly chaotic ones that whistle through the air. It’s a neat visualization of one of the most commonly-measured quantities in physics: the changes in a wave with time. (Video and image credit: D. Palacios; via Flow Vis)
August 3, 2020
Alien Eggs? A Virus?
Nope, they’re hydrogel beads! The team at Chemical Bouillon seem to have once again coated them in something like paint before placing them in water. As the gel beads absorb water, they expand, tearing through their coating. The result is weirdly mesmerizing and kind of creepy. It’s no wonder that special effects artists have historically turned to fluids for sci-fi films! (Image and video credit: Chemical bouillon)
July 10, 2020
“As Above”
In Roman Hill’s “As Above,” we see expansive celestial landscapes: nebulae, the corona of a star, and expanding interstellar dust clouds. Except, in reality, we are watching fluids undergoing a chemical reaction, on a canvas only 8 square millimeters in size. It’s a fun — and beautiful — reminder that the patterns of physics repeat across many scales. (Video and image credit: R. Hill)
June 15, 2020