As bizarre as the branching fractal fingers of the Saffman-Taylor instability look, they’re quite a common phenomenon. In his video, Steve Mould demonstrates how to make them by sandwiching a Keep reading
Tag: viscous fingering
Why Nature Loves Fractals
Trees, blood vessels, and rivers all follow branching patterns that make their pieces look very similar to their whole. We call this repeating, self-similar shape a fractal, and this Be Keep reading
Marangoni Blossoms
When surface tension varies along an interface, fluids move from regions of low surface tension to higher surface tension, a behavior known as the Marangoni effect. Here, a drop of Keep reading
Peering Inside Viscous Fingering
Viscous fingers form when a low-viscosity fluid is pumped into a narrow, viscous-fluid-filled gap. The branching pattern that forms depends on the ratio of the two viscosities, among other factors. Keep reading
Viscous Fireworks
Inject a less viscous fluid into a gap filled with a more viscous fluid, and you’ll get finger-like patterns spreading radially. Here, researchers put a twist on this viscous fingering Keep reading
Evolving Fingers
If you sandwich a viscous fluid between two plates and inject a less viscous fluid, you’ll get viscous fingers that spread and split as they grow. This research poster depicts Keep reading
Dendritic Painting Physics
In the art of Akiko Nakayama, colors branch and split in a tree-like pattern. In studying the process, researchers found the physics intersected art, soft matter mechanics, and statistical physics. Keep reading
Controlling Finger Formation
When gas is injected into thin, liquid-filled gaps, the liquid-gas interface can destabilize, forming distinctive finger-like shapes. In laboratories, this mechanism is typically investigated in the gap between two transparent Keep reading
The Best of FYFD 2022
In keeping with our annual tradition, here’s a look back at the most popular posts of 2022: Lots of beverage-inspired posts this time around! It’s a good reminder that there’s Keep reading
Inside Viscous Fingers
Sandwich a viscous fluid between two transparent plates and then inject a second, less viscous fluid. This is the classic set-up for the Saffman-Taylor instability, a well-studied flow in which Keep reading