When mammals breathe, air flows back and forth inside our lungs. But in birds that inhale and exhale get transformed into one-directional flow inside their lungs. To figure out how, Keep reading
Tag: vortices
Inside Hydroplaning
When a tire spins over a wet roadway, pressure at the front of the tire generates a lifting force; if that lift exceeds the weight of the car, it will Keep reading
Strings of Swirls
Von Karman vortex streets are the rows of alternating vortices shed off isolated objects interrupting a flow. Here, the volcanic peaks of Cabo Verde disrupt an atmospheric flow accustomed to Keep reading
Vortex Rings on V-Shaped Walls
Vortex ring impacts are eternally fascinating. Here, researchers explore what happens when a vortex ring encounters a V-shaped wall. Because the outer portions of the vortex ring hit the wall Keep reading
Flexible Filament Reduces Drag
Most shapes aren’t streamlined for fluid flow. We call these bulky, often boxy shapes, bluff bodies. Above, we see two examples of a bluff body, a flat plate, in a Keep reading
Ghostly Chandeliers
Under a black light, highlighter fluid creates ghostly trails as it drips through water. The vortices that form and break into this chandelier-like shape are the result of density differences between the Keep reading
Tornadoes of the Sea
This dramatic image shows a waterspout formed off the coast of Florida. Waterspouts come in two varieties: tornadic and fair-weather. Both types can be dangerous to anyone caught up in Keep reading
Jovian Vortices
Jupiter continues to mesmerize in the images from JunoCam. With enhanced contrast, the planet’s eddies look like swirls you could just lean forward and fall into. The complexity of the Jovian atmosphere’s mixing is Keep reading
Trails from a Delta Wing
Rhodamine (red) and fluorescein (green) dyes highlight the complex flows around a delta wing. To visualize the flow, researchers painted the apex of the delta wing with rhodamine, which gets drawn into Keep reading
Reader Question: Inside a Vortex
Reader embersofkymillo asks: Hey FYFD, could you do some analysis/explanations behind the physics of this vortex stuff? I love when you do spots on Slow Mo Guys vids and figured Keep reading