Vibrate a pool of water in air and the interface will form a distinctive pattern of waves called the Faraday instability. But what happens when you vibrate the interface between Keep reading
Tag: mixing
The Hydrodynamics of Marbling
In marbling, an artist floats paints on a viscosified water bath, using various thin tools to manipulate the final image. Many cultures have developed a version of this art, but Keep reading
“Shaken, Not Stirred”
James Bond notoriously orders his martinis “shaken, not stirred,” a request bartenders fulfill by shaking the cocktail over ice in a separate shaker. But what if you shake the martini Keep reading
The Epic Migration of Plankton
Zooplankton are tiny creatures found throughout Earth’s oceans. During the daytime, they linger in the twilight depths, where they are harder for predators to spot. But once the sun sets, Keep reading
Turning the Beach Pink
Lab experiments and numerical simulations can only take us so far; sometimes there’s no substitute for getting out into the field. That’s why a beach in San Diego turned pink Keep reading
Mixing With E. Coli
What happens when a flow meets swimming micro-organisms? Does the flow affect the swimmers? And how do the swimmers affect the flow in turn? Those are the questions behind the Keep reading
Mixing in a Winter Lake
A frozen winter lake can hide surprisingly complex flows beneath its placid surface. Since water is densest at 4 degrees Celsius — just above the freezing point — mixing two Keep reading
Mixing Effectively
Mixing two fluids is a tougher task than you might think. One of my favorite asides from a fluids lecture concerned how to mix fruit into yogurt in an industrial Keep reading
Moving By (Intestinal) Wave
A word of warning: today’s post includes visuals of digestion taking place in (non-human) embryonic intestines. Our bodies rely on waves driven by muscle contractions to move both fluids and Keep reading
Double Diffusive Flow
Diffusion is the tendency for differences in a fluid — in density, temperature, or concentration — to even out over time. Think about a drop of food coloring in a Keep reading