Browse Physics

High-speed camera studies show the detailed behavior of liquid droplets bouncing and eventually shooting off of a hot surface.

Surprisingly uniform layers that form in the ocean result from salt fingers—long, vertical tubes of water with salt content different from their surroundings—according to simulations.

The universal shape of necking liquids as they form drops has been measured experimentally.

Some droplets throw out a fine spray as they hit a liquid surface because of a hidden pattern of fluid flow.

Researchers have developed a new method of magnetic resonance imaging that can track the turbulent flow that swirls around moving bubbles.

A phenomenon called capillary fracturing determines how fluids drain into tightly packed porous granular media.

Gaskets and other seals can stop leaks even if the leak-preventing surfaces have just 42 percent of their area in contact at the microscopic scale, according to computer simulations.

Mysterious ripples on stalactites are explained by a theory that includes the dripping water’s fluid dynamics. The results could help researchers reconstruct ancient precipitation records.

Hard spheres may favor one structural arrangement over others that are less mechanically stable during assembly.

Experimental models of astrophysical and planetary dynamos have been studied in the laboratory and generate magnetic fields with new geometries.

A uniform stream of liquid can form one big drop or break up into many droplets. Experiments test the conditions that lead to breakup.

Paper pyramids hovering in an oscillating air column enlighten us about the stability of flying insects.

Salt crystallizing on walls or old artifacts forms in discrete bunches, rather than coating the surface, because of an unexpected feedback effect, according to experiments and simulations.

Observation of shallow water motion provides a remarkably good way to simulate the shock wave instabilities that occur in exploding stars.

Liquids that approach an often-quoted lower limit for viscosity are deemed “perfect,” but now this lower limit is itself being questioned.

Two new experiments on fluid turbulence have attained conditions needed to establish asymptotic scalings for turbulent transports of heat and angular momentum.

An improved version of a technique for folding tiny objects from a thin membrane uses a magnetic field to affect the shape. The membrane wraps around a droplet of fluid that distorts in response to the field.

A simple analytical model may explain what causes the lift forces that keep a flapping flag from drooping.

A conceptual framework that describes the fluidlike flow of dry granular materials also works for particles suspended in a liquid.

A feedback mechanism in an evaporating liquid produces a variety of complex yet controlled patterns.