The Weird Science of Tossing Stones Into a Lake

Interoperable writes "Researchers in Spain and the Netherlands add another piece to a centuries-old puzzle in physics: the dynamics of an object falling into water. This common occurrence has a complex anatomy that includes a thin 'crown splash' around the perimeter of the impact, a deep cavity of air following the impactor, and a high, narrow jet of water that results from the collapse of the cavity. The new research, recently published in Physical Review Letters, demonstrates that airflow through the neck of the collapsing cavity reaches supersonic speeds despite low relative pressures between the air in the cavity and ambient pressure. Such an effect has no analogue in aerospace engineering or other sciences because of the highly dynamic nature of the collapsing nozzle structure." It's funny that the APS wants to charge non-subscribers $25 to download what is available for free on the arXiv.

Comments

On The West Coast...

[__aaclcg7560]

The only way to appreciate the science of tossing stones into a lake is to be stoned yourself.

Jumped the shark

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot has officially jumped the shark with this splashing story. Really, who gives a toss?

Make you a deal...

[djupedal]

If you promise not to mess with the nature of my nozzle's highly dynamic collapsing nozzle-structure, I won't mess with yours - unless you want me to, of course, in which case I would expect to be able to count on reciprocity.

I think that's only fair, I mean, especially given that we just met and all. Let's just hope your nozzle hasn't been anywhere unseemly lately. I hate unseemly nozzles and I have no use for any with a rather static collapsing nozzle-structure, as I'm sure most people do. yuck....

Looks like we elected the wrong guy

[Trepidity]

Imagine what the U.S.'s technology leadership could've been like if we had put a President in the White House who truly understood this kind of cutting-edge science.

Verrry Interesting

[denmarkw00t]

Neat! I want to see what that cone looks like as it develops, in super-slow motion.

Offtopic: I can't reply to the Racist Facial thread - all the Reply buttons are missing in both Camino and Firefox, and obviously I can post this thread. What gives?

Testing Process

[KneelBeforeZod]

I'd love to see the testing process for this.

Tries 1 - 100

1. Plop
2. Plunk
3. Plunk
4. Bloop
5. Plunk ....

Give me a grant!

Viscosity Changes the Sound Too

[Tisha_AH]

My younger brother discovered a key principle of the viscosity of fluids when he was 12 years old. He and his friend decided to drop a gigantic boulder down the center hole of an outhouse, they were standing over the "opening" to see the effect.

I imagine the sound was much "deeper" but their screams were really high.

It was a 2 mile walk to the nearest running water for them, our camping trips were never the same after that.

Re:Who would have thought...

[Garble Snarky]

Full understanding of the phenomenon would allow simulation and rendering of it in computer graphics. That's definitely tech related, and its reason enough for me to take a look at the paper.

You forgot the name of the scientist!

[Hurricane78]

For anyone who cares: Her name was: Amélie Poulain.

___
*Waiting for the about 3 french female geeks who get it* ;)

Re:The two papers aren't identical

[oldhack]

Yep, one costs you 25, the other diddly squat.