Video inside centrifuge shows we don’t fully understand fluid physics

Physics

The first footage from inside a centrifuge has uncovered unexpected swirls and vortices inside shower gel and other fluids

By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

The first ever camera footage from inside a centrifuge has revealed a new mystery in the physics of fluids.

A centrifuge is a standard piece of laboratory equipment that spins fluid samples at high speed to separate out their components. For instance, centrifuging a blood sample will separate the red blood cells from the white ones. This is because spinning produces the centrifugal force, the same force that pushes clothes towards the edges of a spinning washing machine drum. This acts on the components of the fluid to a differing degree depending on their densities, and so pulls those…

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