Air pushes into a thin gap filled with water and granular particles in the labyrinth-like image above. The encroaching air pushes grains like a bulldozer’s blade, building up a compacted Keep reading
Tag: friction
Electronic Friction
Years ago, physicists discovered that water flows with surprisingly little friction through narrow carbon nanotubes. At our scale, flow behavior is typically the opposite: there’s greater friction (and, thus, slower Keep reading
Beijing 2022: Ice’s Slideability
As scientists continue to unravel the peculiarities of ice, they’ve found that ice’s friction depends both on the object sliding on it and the ice’s hardness. At extremely low temperatures, Keep reading
What Controls an Avalanche?
In an avalanche, grains spontaneously flow when a slope reaches a critical angle, and they continue flowing until they settle at a new, lower angle. Scientists have long debated why this Keep reading
Grain Networks
Granular materials are complicated beasts. When packed, forces between grains create a network (above) that shifts as force is applied. And, while grains can stick and resist that force, push Keep reading
Rain on Car Windows
As a child, I loved to ride in the car while it was raining. The raindrops on the window slid around in ways that fascinated and confused me. The idea Keep reading
Skiing, Avalanches, and Freezing Bubbles
To wrap up our look at Olympic physics, we bring you a wintry mix of interviews with researchers, courtesy of JFM and FYFD. Learn about the research that helped French Keep reading
Labyrinth
A labyrinthine pattern forms in this timelapse video of a multiphase flow in a Hele-Shaw cell. Initially glass beads are suspended in a glycerol-water solution between parallel glass plates with a central Keep reading
How Dogs Drink
Not long ago, researchers showed that cats use friction to their advantage when drawing liquids into their mouths. New research shows that dogs rely on the same mechanism–they’re just far Keep reading
How Cats Drink
While humans use suction and dogs scoop water using their tongues*, cats use a dainty fluid mechanism to drink. Researchers used high-speed video to find that cats drink by touching Keep reading