Moisture is cotton candy’s natural enemy. The spun sugar dissolves incredibly quickly under the influence of even a couple drops of water. Why that’s so is clearer when looking at Keep reading
Tag: capillary action
Sliding Down a Pitcher Plant
Carnivorous pitcher plants supplement their nutrient-poor environments by capturing and consuming insects. The viscoelastic fluid inside them helps trap prey, but fluid dynamics plays a role elsewhere on the plant as well. Keep reading
Capillary Action and Sand Castles
Capillary action – or capillarity – is the ability of liquids to flow through narrow constrictions. It results from intermolecular forces between fluids and solids. It’s a combination of surface Keep reading
Drinking Coffee in Space
You probably don’t give much thought to the forces involved in drinking here on Earth. That’s because gravity’s effects dominate over everything else. Our cups are designed to hold a Keep reading
Dip Coating
Imagine dipping a rod into a liquid mixture filled with particles. When you pull the rod out, do particles stick to it? The answer depends on the relative importance of Keep reading
The Clever Cat’s Tongue
Cats spend almost a quarter of their waking hours grooming, and their tongues are wonderfully specialized for this task, allowing them to clean, cool, and untangle themselves with ease. Anyone Keep reading
Ricequakes
Rockfill dams, sinkholes, ice shelves, and other geological features often consist of brittle, porous materials that are partially submerged. Over time, pressure and chemical reactions with the fluid around them Keep reading
Settling in Straws
At some point in your life, you’ve probably stuck your finger over the end of a straw and used it to pick up the liquid you’re drinking. If you lift Keep reading
Coalescence
Simple acts like the coalescence of two droplets sitting on a surface can be beautiful and complex. As the droplets come together, they form a thin neck between them, and Keep reading
“Liquid Calligraphy”
In “Liquid Calligraphy,” artist Rus Khasanov’s letters dissolve once he draws them. At first, the white ink spreads in narrow fingers, probably driven by a combination of surface tension gradients, capillary Keep reading