When excited, a group of particles can behave much like a gas. These granular gases exhibit many similarities to molecular gases but contain one vital difference: without a constant input Keep reading
Tag: magnetic field
Ferrofluid Snakes
We’re used to seeing ferrofluids — with their suspended iron nanoparticles — as spiky fluids when exposed to a magnetic field. But this is not always the case. Here, the Keep reading
Artificial Microswimmers
Tiny organisms swim through a world much more viscous than ours. To do so, they swim asymmetrically, often using wave-like motions of tiny, hair-like cilia along their bodies. Mimicking this Keep reading
New Details on the Sun’s Surface
As part of its shakedown, the new Inouye Solar Telescope has captured the surface of the sun in stunning new detail. Seen here are some of the sun’s turbulent convection Keep reading
“Emergence”
Artist Susi Sie explores fluidic worlds through her macro lens. In “Emergence,” her focus is on ferrofluids immersed in other liquids. Beginning with tiny droplets traversing the thin fluid channels of a foam, she allows the Keep reading
Ferrofluid in a Cell
Ferrofluids are a colloid consisting of magnetically sensitive nanoparticles suspended in a carrier liquid, like oil. They’re often associated with a distinctive spiky appearance when exposed to a magnet, but this isn’t their only magnetic Keep reading
Grayscale Aurora
This swirling grayscale image shows a spring aurora over the Hudson Bay, as seen by the Suomi NPP satellite. As energetic particles from the sun zip past Earth, they interact with our magnetosphere, which Keep reading
Liquid Magnets
Ferrofluids – those distinctively spiky liquids – are made up of magnetically sensitive nanoparticles in a carrier liquid, and although they respond to applied magnetic fields, they retain no magnetism outside Keep reading
Magnetic Storms
Periodically, our sun releases plasma in a coronal mass ejection. Afterwards, the local magnetic field lines shift and reorganize. We can see that process in action here because charged particles spin along Keep reading
Simulating Solar Flares
Few topics in fluid dynamics are more mathematically complicated than magnetohydrodynamics – the marriage between electromagnetism and fluids. That mathematical complexity, along with the vast range of scales necessary to Keep reading