Browse Physics

A new electrostatic levitation study clarifies how the strings and clusters of atoms that appear in a cooling molten liquid affect diffusion.

Bubbles of hydrogen and oxygen burn spontaneously if they are small enough.

Magnetism may propel liquids in a pump without moving parts.

Ridges and dips provide control of how a drop of liquid, despite extreme mobility, moves on a very hot surface.

AFM experiments suggest the long lifetime of surface nanobubbles is due to a balanced influx and outflux of gas molecules.

The dramatic speed-up of fluid flow in a drying drop of a colloidal suspension controls the pattern of order and disorder in the particle stain that is left behind.

A rapidly expanding and collapsing microbubble in a fluid exerts forces strong enough to roll submerged particles stuck to a solid surface, which may explain how ultrasonic cleaning of jewelry and silicon wafers in a liquid removes dirt.

Objects could move through water without generating a wake if they are shrouded with a combination of porous materials and tiny pumps.

By swimming collectively, bacterial cells swim faster than they would in isolation.

Sometimes particles dispersed in a rotating fluid collect into a seemingly rigid filament structure. A new mathematical model explains this mysterious behavior, first observed 15 years ago.

The swimming motion of organisms in complex fluids is hindered by elasticity.

Liquid sodium agitated gently in a rotating tank can significantly amplify a magnetic field. The experiment is the first step toward demonstrating a self-sustaining field in a low-turbulence fluid, which may be analogous to Earth’s core.

The paddling motion works not just for swimmers but also for fliers, as new high-speed video observations of fruit flies show.

Even though global warming remains a heated political topic, physicists should not ignore the intellectual challenge of trying to model climate change.

Advances in the technology of microfluidics should make it possible to assemble complex structures out of individual particles.

Researchers show how the judicious choice of fluid filler can suppress the turbulent flow that severely hinders the “top-kill” plugging of a blown-out oil well.

Numerical calculations show a variety of scenarios for how intact liquid structures on patterned surfaces can break apart and become detached to allow motion.

Turbulent flow around cylinders can tell us plenty about physics of fluids on earth and in astrophysical systems.

Surface waves in a trough of flowing water provide an analog system in which to study Hawking radiation.

The interface between two Bose-Einstein condensates may provide new physical insights into fluid dynamics.