Physics Buzz

How many years have we been coming to the shore? How many trips? Why do we keep coming back… the air in the sky? The sand? The water? So familiar and yet constantly changing. We feel the same excitement every time we come. Fluid flows under us, around us, over us -- constantly blurring, constantly refreshing.

As anyone can tell you, certain liquids, like water, will usually fall in droplets while others, such as honey, will slowly slide to the ground in a long filament. The key differences between these two liquids are viscosity and surface tension, and scientists have conducted a new experiment to better understand these differences. Volcanoes, ink-jet printers, and archer fish—who use their mouth as a sharpshooting water pistol to hunt prey—all take advantage of the properties of liquid filaments and droplets.