In the mid-eighteenth century, pewterer Andreas Wirtz invented a spiral pump. Even today, his design is useful for small-scale, low-power pumping, as seen in this Steve Mould video. The design Keep reading
Tag: pump
Pumping Waste
Sewage systems rely on gravity to remove waste from our homes and carry it toward treatment plants. But that constant downward slope can’t always be maintained. Sometimes we have to Keep reading
Pump Problems
Pumps are a critical piece of infrastructure, but to keep them operating, engineers have to account for several potential pitfalls. In this Practical Engineering video, Grady discusses some of the Keep reading
Hummingbird Drinking
Hummingbirds are master acrobats, able to hover and drink simultaneously before flitting off to the next flower. At first glance, you might expect that their tongues are simply tiny straws Keep reading
Egg-Spinning Fun
If you have any leftover hard-boiled eggs, you can recreate this bit of fluid dynamical fun. Spin the egg through a puddle of milk, and you’ll find that the egg Keep reading
Archimedes
Archimedes may be the world’s most famous fluid mechanician. The story of his discovery of the principles of buoyancy (and his subsequent running naked through the streets proclaiming “Eureka!”) is Keep reading