What goes on when droplets merge is tough to observe, even with a high-speed camera. There are many factors at play: any momentum in the droplets, surface tension, gravity, and Keep reading
Tag: jets
Swinging Jets
In the tiny realm of microfluidics, flows are, in general, completely laminar. That makes mixing a challenge. But it turns out that pumping water steadily into multiple inlets can spontaneously Keep reading
Recreating Volcanic Lightning
Some natural phenomena, like volcanic eruptions or tornado formation, don’t lend themselves to fieldwork — at least not at the height of the action. The danger, unpredictability, and destructiveness of Keep reading
Champagne’s Shock Wave
The distinctive pop of opening a champagne bottle is more than the cork coming free. The sudden release of high-pressure gas creates a freezing jet that’s initially supersonic. It even creates a Mach disk, Keep reading
Jets from Lasers
Laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) is an industrial printing technique where a laser pulse aimed at a thin layer of ink creates a tiny jet that deposits the ink on a surface. In Keep reading
Catching Fire
Citrus fruits like oranges house tiny pockets of oil in their peels. When squeezed, the oils jet out in tiny micro-jets that are about the width of a human hair. Keep reading
Reducing the Force of Water Entry
As anyone who’s jumped off the high board can tell you, hitting the water involves a lot of force. That’s because any solid object entering the water has to accelerate Keep reading
Engineering Droplets
A jet of falling liquid doesn’t remain a uniform cylinder; instead, it breaks into droplets. In this video, Bill Hammack explores why this is and what engineers have learned to Keep reading
Plant Week: Citrus Jets
Bartenders and citrus lovers the world over are familiar with the mist of oil that bursts from a bent citrus peel. These microjets are about the width of a human Keep reading
The Beauty of Flames
The flickering yellow and orange flames most of us are used to thinking of are rather different from the flames researchers study. In this video, the Beauty of Science team Keep reading