We live in a world of fluids. We breathe them, move through them, and have them move in us. “FLOW” is a celebration of that pervasive motion, animated from hand-drawn artwork. It features fluid dynamics from our daily lives — a candle’s flame, breaking waves, pedestrian traffic — all the way to astronomical scales far beyond typical human experience — the rotation and collision of galaxies. It’s a beautiful reminder that flows are always surrounding us, linking our lives from the small to the unbelievably large. (Video credit: MIT LineStorm Animation Consortium; submitted by Pell O.)
Tag: fluids as art
“Dark Matter”
In “Dark Matter” photographer Alberto Seveso captures billowing black pigment against a bright red backdrop. Seveso excels at capturing the developing turbulence in sinking fluids. I’m always blown away by the texture in his images; it almost makes the fluid look fabric-like and solid. Look closely in some of these images and you can catch a few tiny Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities, too, as the denser pigment sinks through water. (Image credit: A. Seveso)
“Elements”
Photographer Mikko Lagerstedt specializes in Nordic landscapes, like the windswept snow seen here. I love the way he’s captured the snow that gets picked up and blown by the wind. Notice the hazy layer of snow hovering over the foreground. This snow is saltating, just as sand does in the desert. When flakes get picked up by the wind, they follow a ballistic trajectory, much like a cannonball in a high-school physics class. As the snow crashes back down, its impact knocks up more flakes, and the process continues. Repeat enough times, and you’ll see this hazy layer of blowing snow blanketing a snowscape. (Image credit: M. Lagerstedt; via Colossal)
Paint Ejection
Shaking paint on a speaker cone and filming it in high speed is an oldie but a goodie. Here, artist Linden Gledhill films paint ejection at 10,000 frames per second, giving us a glorious view of the process. As the paint flies upward, accelerated by the speaker, it stretches into long ligaments. As the ligaments thin, surface tension concentrates the paint into droplets, connected together by thinning strands. When those strands break, they snap back toward the remaining paint, imprinting swirling threads of different colors, thanks to their momentum. Eventually, surface tension wins the tug-of-war and transforms all the paint into droplets. (Video and image credit: L. Gledhill)
“Turbulence”
In his recent short film, artist Roman De Giuli explores turbulence using metallic paints and inks in a fishtank. The effects are beautiful: sparkling pigments dispersing in clouds, mushroom- and umbrella-shaped Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities, and lots of swirling eddies. It’s exactly the kind of eyecandy to kick off your weekend with! (Image and video credit: R. De Giuli)
“aBiogenesis”
Many theories posit the physical and chemical origins of life. In the short film “aBiogenesis”, CGI artist Markos Kay imagines one such theory — the lipid world theory — in which cellular life began as a soup contained within immiscible fatty membranes. Chemicals trapped within these vesicles interacted and ultimately formed the building blocks of life as we know it, including RNA. Kay’s interpretation is a beautiful exploration of this intersection of physics, chemistry, and biology. (Image and video credit: M. Kay; via Colossal)
“Iridescent”
Soft colors and sudden coalescence combine in this short film from Susi Sie’s team. The visuals rely on liquid lenses (likely oil) floating atop a water bath. You can see how the fluids get manipulated in their behind-the-scenes video, which also provides a peek at how the sound effects get made. (Video credit: S. Sie et al.)
“The Dark Days”
“The Dark Days” is the third film in artist Thomas Blanchard’s N-UPRISING series. Like its siblings, this film features plants and insects, along with creeping — and sometimes overwhelming — fluid flows. The vivid colors of the orchids here make an uncomfortable juxtaposition with the air raid horns, sirens, and sounds of war that make up the soundtrack. It works well as a metaphor for life these days, where some of us can enjoy the new and the beautiful while others are caught up in war and suffering. (Image and video credit: T. Blanchard)
Beneath the Waves
Surfing looks entirely different from below the wave. Photographer Ben Thouard captures his images by freediving and observing what goes on overhead. Whether the surfers nearby ride a barrel roll or bail into the churn, the results are incredible. You can find more of Thouard’s artwork on his website and Instagram. (Image credit: B. Thouard; via Oceanographic Magazine)
The Best of FYFD 2022
In keeping with our annual tradition, here’s a look back at the most popular posts of 2022:
- The Assassin’s Teapot can pour two different liquids from the same spout
- The Florida Keys formed from fossilized coral reefs and sandbars
- Take a look inside a gas pump’s nozzle
- Hot chocolate hides a strange acoustic effect
- Under strong electric fields, liquid bridges form
- Growing fractal fluids
- A peek inside a coronavirus aerosol
- Wind-powered Strandbeests wander the beaches
- Tongan volcano sends shocks around the world
- Why do tea leaves swirl up in the middle of a stirred mug?
Lots of beverage-inspired posts this time around! It’s a good reminder that there’s always interesting science around us all the time. Also, a special shout out to Steve Mould, whose videos appear in three of the top ten posts of the year – wow! Congrats, Steve!
If you enjoy FYFD, please remember that it’s a reader-supported website. I don’t run ads and it’s been years since my last sponsored post. You can help support the site by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, buying some merch, or simply by sharing on social media. And if you find yourself struggling to remember to check the website, remember you can get FYFD in your inbox every two weeks with our newsletter. Happy New Year!
(Image credits: teapot – S. Mould, Florida Keys – L. Dauphin/USGS, gas pump – S. Mould, hot chocolate – C. Kalelkar, liquid bridge – X. Pan et al., fractal fluids – R. Camassa et al., coronavirus – R. Amaro et al., strandbeests – T. Jansen, shocks – S. Doran/Himawari 8, tea leaves – S. Mould)
