Plucking Droplets
A sudden breeze can pluck droplets hanging from a stem. Here, researchers recreate that phenomenon in the laboratory. With a close-up view and high-speed images, we can enjoy every detail of the detachment and break-up. As the wire pulls away, it drags a liquid sheet off the droplet. The thicker rims on either side of the sheet eventually collide, creating a jet that stretches, deforms, and, at last, breaks. (Video and image credit: D. Maity et al.)
Animation of two droplets getting plucked, one made of glycerin+water (left) and one of water (right). #2025gofm #droplets #flowVisualization #fluidDynamics #physics #science #surfaceTension #viscosity
Using Navier-Stokes equations and simple experiments, Brown University physicists explored thin liquid films in the kitchen. Milk drains in ~30s, olive oil in 9+ min. Thin film physics everywhere!
🔗 https://phys.org/news/2026-03-liquid-kitchen-physicists.html
#FluidMechanics #ThinFilms #EverydayPhysics #Viscosity #KitchenScience
At some point, most people have found themselves holding a tilted carton of milk or bottle of cooking oil, patiently waiting for the last drops to drip out. Now, physicists at Brown University have done the math to show just how long you might have to wait.
SAE 20, 30, 40… think you know these numbers? Think again. Behind the labels lies steam-era labs, stopwatches, and a viscosity index myth. Time to see how engine physics crushes marketing tales. #MotorOil #Tribology #SAE #Viscosity #Engine #OilMyths
- Capillarity and viscosity: how liquids move -
Understand the relationship between capillarity and viscosity and their role in droplet dynamics with this video from the "Dynamics of fluid interfaces" MOOC by ESPCI Paris - PSL.
🎥 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq1EUe3cOCY&list=PLcbz7zf4dTyk9BqlBPLpgI48i9TiorpEi&index=13
The world is a viscous place.
- Capillary number: balancing viscosity and surface tension -
The capillary number quantifies how viscosity and surface tension interact in droplets. Explore this key concept in the ESPCI Paris - PSL MOOC video.
🎥 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbEOcd977ec&list=PLcbz7zf4dTyk9BqlBPLpgI48i9TiorpEi&index=12
#CapillaryNumber #Viscosity #SurfaceTension #FluidPhysics #LeidenfrostEffect
Color Drip: Materiality and Motion in Contemporary Still Life
(This post is being modified)https://gregurbano.com/2026/01/17/color-drip-materiality-and-motion-in-contemporary-still-life/
Competing Time Scales
Fluid dynamics often comes down to a competition between the different forces acting in a flow. Inertia, surface tension, viscosity, gravity, rotation — flows can be affected by all of these and more. In this video, researchers describe the three dominant forces in a rotating fluid like a planet’s atmosphere: viscosity, the fluid’s resistance to flowing; inertia, the fluid’s resistance to accelerating; and rotation, the overall spin of a fluid.
As shown in the video, which of these three forces dominates will change depending on the speed at which the force acts. We quantify this concept using time scales; the force with the smallest time scale can act fastest and will, therefore, win the tug-of-war. (Video and image credit: UCLA SpinLab)
#DIYFluids #flowVisualization #fluidDynamics #inertia #mathematics #physics #rotatingFlow #science #viscosity
OilGlup
Nicole Sharp
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Greg Urbano