Under a macro lens, even a petri dish worth of fluids comes vividly to life. Here, artist Scott Portingale explores crystallization, Marangoni effects, and other phenomena alongside a haunting soundtrack Keep reading
Tag: instability
Marangoni Blossoms
When surface tension varies along an interface, fluids move from regions of low surface tension to higher surface tension, a behavior known as the Marangoni effect. Here, a drop of Keep reading
Peering Inside Viscous Fingering
Viscous fingers form when a low-viscosity fluid is pumped into a narrow, viscous-fluid-filled gap. The branching pattern that forms depends on the ratio of the two viscosities, among other factors. Keep reading
Tweaking Coalescence
When a drop settles gently against a pool of the same liquid, it will coalesce. The process is not always a complete one, though; sometimes a smaller droplet breaks away Keep reading
Underground Convection Thaws Permafrost Faster
In recent years, Arctic permafrost has thawed at a surprisingly fast pace. Much of that is, of course, due to the rapid warming caused by climate change. But some of Keep reading
The Shape of Rain
In our collective imagination, a raindrop is pendant shaped, wide at the bottom and pointed at the top. But, in fact, a falling raindrop experiences much more complicated shapes. Here, Keep reading
“Aquakosmos – Ch. 2”
Colored inks bulge and billow around flowers in filmmaker Christopher Dormoy’s “Aquakosmos – Ch. 2”. Because ink is denser than the surrounding water, it sinks, forming mushroom-like shapes as the Keep reading
Making a Splash
Since Harold Edgerton’s experiments with stroboscopic photographs in the 1930s, we’ve been fascinated by the shape of splashes. These days students and artists can take advantage of programmable external flashes Keep reading
A Shallow Origin for the Sun’s Magnetic Field
The Sun‘s complex magnetic field drives its 11-year solar activity cycle in ways we have yet to understand. During active periods, more sunspots appear, along with roiling flows within the Keep reading
Viscous Fireworks
Inject a less viscous fluid into a gap filled with a more viscous fluid, and you’ll get finger-like patterns spreading radially. Here, researchers put a twist on this viscous fingering Keep reading