In nature ice is ever-changing — growing, shrinking, and shifting. This poster illustrates that with a cylinder of ice floating in room temperature water. As the ice melts, it flips Keep reading
Tag: schlieren photography
Digging Into Acoustic Levitation
Acoustic levitation is a fascinating phenomenon in which small objects, like the Styrofoam balls seen here, are levitated by a standing acoustic wave. In this image, a color schlieren system Keep reading
The Best of FYFD 2020
2020 was certainly a strange year, and I confess that I mostly want to congratulate all of us for making it through and then look forward to a better, happier, Keep reading
How Well Do Masks Work?
Many mixed messages have been spread about the efficacy of masks in preventing transmission of COVID-19. Nevertheless, there is good evidence that they help, as discussed in this video from Keep reading
Seeing Sound
It’s not always easy to imagine how waves travel, but with this demonstration, you can see sound waves and how they reflect and defract. The set-up uses schlieren optics that show light Keep reading
The Livers of Our Rivers
To the naked eye, mussels and other bivalves don’t appear to be doing much. But these filter feeders are hard at work. The mussel takes in water through its incurrent Keep reading
Inside a Bubble Wall
Schlieren photography has an almost magical feeling to it because it enables us to see the invisible – like shock waves and the tiny currents of heat that rise from Keep reading
Visualizing Acoustic Levitation
The schlieren photographic technique is often used to visualize shock waves and other strong but invisible flows. But a sensitive set-up can show much weaker changes in density and pressure. Keep reading
Space Shuttle Sonic Booms
The Space Shuttle had a famous double sonic boom when passing overhead during re-entry. This schlieren flow visualization of a model shuttle at Mach 3 reveals the source of the Keep reading
Bubbles Sliding
Two-phase flows involve more than one state of matter – in this case, both gas and liquid phases. Flows like this are common, especially in applications involving heat transfer. In Keep reading