Related papers: The falling slinky
We study how single- and double-slit interference patterns fall in the presence of gravity. First, we demonstrate that universality of free fall still holds in this case, i.e., interference patterns fall just like classical objects. Next,…
The motion of a block slipping on a surface is a well studied problem for flat and circular surfaces, but the necessary conditions for the block to leave (or not) the surface deserve a detailed treatment. In this article, using basic…
Shock waves are an ubiquitous feature of hydrodynamic theories. Given that fermionic quantum many-body systems admit hydrodynamical descriptions on length scales large compared to the Fermi wavelength, it is natural to ask what the status…
We present a purely relativistic effect according to which asymmetric oscillations of a quasi-rigid body slow down or accelerate its fall in a gravitational background.
We find that a liquid jet can bounce off a bath of the same liquid if the bath is moving horizontally with respect to the jet. Previous observations of jets rebounding off a bath (e.g. Kaye effect) have been reported only for non-Newtonian…
A large number of curling shots using a wide range of rotational and translational velocities on two different ice surfaces have been recorded and analyzed. The observed curling rock trajectories are described in terms of a…
In the special relativity, a rigid rod slides upon itself, with one extremity oscillating harmonically. We discovered restrictions in the amplitude of the motion and in the length of the rod, essential to eliminate unphysical solutions.…
The dynamics of the tip of the falling chain is analyzed. Results of laboratory experiments are presented and compared with results of numerical simulations. Time dependences of the velocity and the acceleration of the chain tip for a…
A fascinating class of patterns, often encountered in nature as meandering cracks on rocks, dried-out fields and tectonic plates is produced by the fracture of solids. Here we report the observation and modeling of an unusual type of…
Quantitatively-unexplained stationary waves or ridges often encircle icicles. Such waves form when roughly 0.1 mm-thick layers of water flow down the icicle. These waves typically have a wavelength of 1cm approximately independent of…
The falling of an object through a non-Newtonian fluid is an interesting problem, depending on the details of the rheology of the fluid. In this paper we report on the settling of spherical objects through two non-Newtonian fluids: Laponite…
We explore the evolution of a splash when a liquid drop impacts a smooth, dry surface. There are two splashing regimes that occur when the liquid viscosity is varied, as is evidenced by its dependence on ambient gas pressure. A…
A ball dropped from a given height onto a surface, will bounce repeatedly before coming to rest. A ball bouncing on a thick plate will behave very differently than a ball bouncing off the thin lid of a container. For a plate with a fixed…
The wave nature of the light, applied to the kinematics of the moving bodies, permits to investigate and find a coherent solution on some questions raised by the theory of special relativity about the Lorentz contraction.
The patterns arising from the differential swelling of gels are investigated experimentally and theoretically as a model for the differential growth of living tissues. Two geometries are considered: a thin strip of soft gel clamped to a…
Shock wave theory was first studied for gas dynamics, for which shocks appear as compression waves. A shock wave is characterized as a sharp transition, even discontinuity in the flow. In fact, shocks appear in many different physical…
When a coin falls in water, its trajectory is one of four types determined by its dimensionless moment of inertia $I^\ast$ and Reynolds number Re: (A) steady; (B) fluttering; (C) chaotic; or (D) tumbling. The dynamics induced by the…
The two-dimensional motion of an object on a moving rough horizontal plane is investigated. Two cases are studied: the plane having a translational acceleration, and a rotating plane. For the first case, the motions of a point particle and…
Cracks are the major vehicle for material failure, and often exhibit rather complex dynamics. The laws that govern their motion have remained an object of constant study for nearly a century. The simplest kind of dynamic crack is a single…
We study a two-dimensional model for interacting colloidal particles which displays spontaneous clustering. Within this model we investigate the competition between the pinning to a periodic corrugation potential, and a sideways constant…