Acoustic levitation and optical tweezers both use waves — of sound and light, respectively — to trap and control particles. Water waves also have the power to move and capture Keep reading
Tag: waves
Testing Waves in High Gravity
Where waves crash and meet, turbulence is inevitable. But exactly how large waves interact — whether in the ocean, in plasma, or the atmosphere — is far from understood. A Keep reading
The Best of FYFD 2019
2019 was an even busier year than last year! I spent nearly two whole months traveling for business, gave 13 invited talks and workshops, and produced three FYFD videos. I Keep reading
Reader Question: Cross Sea
Reader Matt G asks: [What’s] going on here? Why’s the pattern square? Just a special case of waves traveling in different directions, and this photo happened to catch some at Keep reading
Diamond-Shaped Waves
Strong winds blowing across Lake Michigan created this diamond-shaped wave pattern after the incoming waves reflected off the breakwater on the right. The formal name for these waves are clapotis gaufré, Keep reading
Reader Question: Waves Breaking
As a follow-up to the recent waves post, reader robotslenderman asks: What does it look like when the wave breaks? And why do waves sometimes push us back? Why are we able to Keep reading
How Waves Travel
When playing in the surf, it’s easy to imagine that the incoming waves are a wall of water crashing into the shore. And, in a way they are, but probably Keep reading
Doing the Wave
Not everything that behaves like a fluid is a liquid or a gas. In particular, groups of organisms can behave in a collective manner that is remarkably flow-like. From schools of Keep reading
Transporting Droplets
Transporting droplets easily and reliably is important in many microfluidic applications. While this can be done using electric fields, those fields can impact biological characteristics researchers are trying to measure. As an Keep reading
Prehistoric Seiche
Sixty-six million years ago, a meteorite impact in modern-day Mexico wiped out the dinosaurs and most other living species of the time. To call the event catastrophic feels like an Keep reading