Unstop your bathtub and the draining water will form a tiny tornado-shaped vortex over the outlet. Four centuries ago Torricelli developed a mathematical equation to describe how long it would Keep reading
Tag: bathtub vortex
Black Holes in a Bathtub
Physicist Silke Weinfurtner studies fluids, not for themselves, but for what they can teach us about black holes, cosmic inflation, and quantum gravity. Black holes are notoriously difficult to study Keep reading
Ice Cream Vortex
[original media no longer available] Here’s a fun demonstration of vorticity: sticking an ice cream cone in a bathtub vortex. Now, before someone points out that this is clearly a Keep reading
Fluid Black Holes
Fluid systems can sometimes serve as analogs for other physical phenomena. For example, bouncing droplets can recreate quantum effects and a hydraulic jump can act like a white hole. In Keep reading
The Bathtub Vortex
If you’ve ever watched a swirling vortex disappear down the drain of your bathtub and wondered what was happening, you’ll appreciate these images. This dye visualization shows a one-celled bathtub Keep reading