A To Z Challenge: Rheology And Redesigning Your Soap

Rheology is the study of how things flow and change, particularly the behavior of non-Newtonian fluids (fluids that do not obey typical laws of physics), which include foams, plastics, paints, and even everyday substances like the mayonnaise in your fridge. Rheology, following a bit of a mini-theme from the past couple letters of the alphabet, is yet another branch of physics.

A recent development in the field of rheology is a mechanism developed by a team of researchers at the University of Washington which produces the same effect as surfactants but without actual surfactants needing to be added to a substance. (A surfactant is the chemical found in soap that allows the soap to clean out oil and grease in water.) The new technology, called a microfluidics device, shoves molecules through slits one-tenth the width of a human hair which causes the molecules--in this case, water with detergent and salt--to deform and become significantly more viscous, with added elasticity.

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Sources:
http://www.aip.org/tip/INPHFA/vol-10/iss-2/p29.html
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/rheology
http://www.ar.ethz.ch/
http://www.malvern.com/labeng/products/iwtm/rheological_properties.htm
(Note: This is a for-profit company website. I'm linking to it because it explains rheology; I cannot speak for the company itself or its products.)
http://www.mie.utoronto.ca/labs/rheology/index.html
http://www.chem.com.au/science/rheology/rheology2/
http://www.nanowerk.com/news2/newsid=29990.php

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What's the strangest substance you can think of? Do you use (or consume) any non-Newtonian fluids?


-----The Golden Eagle

A-Z Blogging Challenge: Fluid Dynamics

Air flow from the wing of a plane. Public domain image. SOURCE.

Fluid dynamics is an applied science (meaning that research is done with a specific goal in mind) that focuses on the movement of liquids and gases.

There are several major categories of fluid flow: steady flow (fluid maintains the same velocity), turbulent flow (speed and/or direction changes), compressibility (if it is compressible, it changes in volume in response to pressure), incompressibility (it does not change in volume as a response to pressure), viscosity, inviscid fluids (entirely non-viscous, ideal fluids), rotational flow (the fluid moves in swirl patterns), and irrotational flow (moves in a straight line).

Fluid dynamics includes the fields of aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, vortex dynamics, gas dynamics, computation fluid dynamics (also called CFD), convection heat transfer, turbomachinery flow, acoustics, biofluids, physical oceanography, atmospheric dynamics, wind engineering, two-phase flows, and a large number of other subjects, and it is used to design aircraft, spacecraft, automobiles, ships, propulsion systems, and heat exchangers, in addition to having other manufacturing applications.

By Brocken Inaglory, CC-BY-SA-3.0. SOURCE.

Notable fluid dynamicist:

Nadine Aubry

Nadine Aubry is the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. She was awarded the Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation and the Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award from the Society of Automotive Engineers, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Nano Society. She has lectured in a range of places, including the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Cornell University, and in Melbourne, Italy, Mexico, and the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo in Canada.

Her current research involves microfluidics, such as micromixers and droplet generators. Her team has introduced new methods for more effective mixing, droplet generation, and the arrangement of micro-sized and nano-sized particles.

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Sources:
http://www.cmu.edu/me/people/nadine-aubry.html
http://www.fluids.eng.vt.edu/
http://members.nanosociety.us/aubry
http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/py105/Bernoulli.html
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fluid+dynamics

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And if you want to play around with a fluid dynamics simulator:
http://nerget.com/fluidSim/

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Now for a piece of completely unrelated news:

Julia at That Hapa Chick, Izzy at My Words Ate Me, and Lucia at iLove, iLaugh, iLove Books are hosting an All Things Asian event. They're doing a series of interviews of Asian bloggers throughout this week and next (mine will be up April 10 on My Words Ate Me!), in addition to author interviews and giveaways. Go check it out, be you Asian or not. :)

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Any favorite fluids or favorite applications of fluid dynamics?


-----The Golden Eagle