Here’s a neat bit of fluid dynamics derived from a day at the beach! Our experiment begins with well-mixed (and likely compacted) sand grains and sea water in a bottle. Keep reading
Tag: buoyancy
Bubbles Rising
Here we see high-speed video of air bubbles rising through sesame oil. The flow rate of air is just right for one bubble to catch up to and merge with Keep reading
Inside the Blockage of the Suez Canal
In March 2021, the world watched as the Ever Given container ship got stuck in the Suez Canal, disrupting global shipping for more than a week. In this Practical Engineering Keep reading
Oil-Coated Bubbles
Bubbles in industrial applications are often more complicated than a simple pocket of air surrounded by water. Here researchers investigate the formation of an air bubble coated in oil before Keep reading
Hedgehogs Atop Waves
Since Michael Faraday, scientists have watched the curious patterns that form in a vibrating liquid. By adding floating particles to such a system, researchers have discovered spiky, hedgehog-like shapes that Keep reading
Oil in Water
In the decade since the Deepwater Horizons oil spill, scientists have been working hard to understand the intricacies of how liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons behave underwater. The high pressures, low Keep reading
Floating in Levitating Liquids
When it comes to stability, nature can be amazingly counter-intuitive, as in this case of flotation on the underside of a levitating liquid. First things first: how is this liquid Keep reading
The Magic* Cork
*Spoiler alert: it’s not magic. It’s science! Just what makes this dropped cork float beneath the surface? Just like a normal cork, it’s buoyancy! But this seemingly straightforward video is Keep reading
Hot Ice, Buoyancy Tricks, and More DIY Fun
Here’s a smorgasbord of DIY experiments from Dianna at Physics Girl. Some are fluidsy, some aren’t, but all of them give you a chance to stretch your science muscles at Keep reading
Ventilation and Respiratory Disease
In 1977, one passenger with the flu infected 38 people onboard a flight with malfunctioning ventilation. In this video, Dianna digs into the physics of respiratory disease transmission and just Keep reading