Image: Flow Visualization - A Course in the Physics and Art of Fluid Flow
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2006 Gallery - Get Wet
For their first assignment, students were encouraged to explore everyday fluid dynamics such as plumes of food coloring, flames, and smoke.
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Chris Ostoich

Cream dropped into hot tea forms a vortex ring as the drop deforms.
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Christopher McCray

Red colored water dropped into vegetable oil forms spherical drops due to oil's hydrophobic force.
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Mike Demmons

Rayleigh-Taylor phenomena between dense food coloring and water.
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Christopher Skallerud

PS 'Glowing Edges' filter electrifies image of highlighter ink leaking from pen into water.
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Tim Read

An emulsion of vegetable oil and 'All' liquid detergent spreads and separates over a water surface, illuminated by UV light.
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Grant Bovee

Bubbles coalesce on the surface of a water/detergent mixture, illuminated by UV light.
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Taylor Simonson

Bubbles in pure liquid 'All' detergent minimize surface area by sharing common walls.
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Dustin Scaplo

Food coloring on the surface of stirred milk.
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Andrea Fabri

Surface tension driven flow: a vinegar base, then blue food coloring, then oil, then red.
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James Palmer

Droplets of food coloring are isolated in olive oil until water is brought into contact with the drops.
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Chris Kuhn

Food coloring falls through water, breaks up, and finally diffuses.
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Hwapyong Ko

Soy sauce poured into spinning water shows turbulence below the surface.
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Geneva Wilkesanders

A gasoline/diesel mixture burns on top of water, viewed from below.
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Molly Selting

Gas grill flames are blue in the chemical reaction zone, while downstream soot glows yellow from black body radiation.
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Christopher Bonilha

A Q-tip dipped in flammable paint and ignited produces a thick, laminar smoke plume.
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Melissa Talmage

Smoke is generated after blowing out 6 candles.
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Tanner Ladtkow

A dry-ice-generated water fog flows down an inclined surface, showing characteristics of a wall jet.
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Tyler Harrison

Dry ice causes a cold water fog to escape from between two glasses.
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Kaleena Menke

Food tornado viewed from above a blender
Sarah Hill

Water stirred by an immersion blender in a pink bowl.
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Lok Kin Lee

A stagnation line was formed by two air flows converging in a narrow space.
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Movie (.avi, 212 Kb)
Ryan Mansfield

A water spray in air.
Jake Lilevjen

Ditch water exhibits a transition from laminar flow to turbulence.
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Nigel Gorbold

Laminar water flow over a dam at Eben Fine Park.
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