Fluid Mechanics

What it Shows

Cyclohexane vapor catches on fire when it flows downwards to a burning candle at the bottom of a ramp.

How it Works

Cyclohexane is a clear, organic liquid with a formula of C₆H₁₂.

Because cyclohexane is a nonpolar molecule with only weak...

Water moving around a cylindrical pendulum makes the cylinder swing at the vortex shedding frequency.

What it Shows:

When fluid flows around a cylindrical object, there is a range of flow velocities for which a von Karman vortex street is formed. The...

Show why objects float in a prefered orientation and why one hull shape is more stable than another.

What it Shows:

Place a wooden stick or board into a fish tank in some random orientation and it will flip over and float in its prefered orientation. This...

Also known as the Ben Franklin pond experiment, after a story in B.F's autobiography.

Olive oil with a known volume is dropped onto water. The water has been dusted with lycopodium powder, which floats on the surface. The oil drop expands, pushing the...

What it shows:

How it works:

The setup shows the direct comparison between four capillary tubes of different bores. The...

What it shows:

James Clerk Maxwell postulated that since heat involves the movement of molecules, it might be possible to separate hot and cold air in a device with the help of a "friendly demon" who would sort out and separate the fast and slow moving...

What it shows:

Ink is squirted into a fluid and mixed in until it disappears. By precisely undoing the motions in the reverse direction, the ink becomes unmixed! The demonstration seems to defy thermodynamics in that it appears that entropy decreases...

What it shows:

A liquid in a number of different shaped communicating vessels will find the same level in each.

How it works:

The pressure at the bottom of the fluid depends upon the depth of the fluid and not on the shape of the container. The apparatus...

What it shows:

Three containers are filled with water to the same depth, and each has the same base surface area (see figure 1). Since the pressure and area are the same in each container, the force should be the same (pressure = force/area).