The Art of Science

"Two fish swimming side-by-side"
Photo by Brigitt Bosehitsch, Peter Dewey
and Alexander Smits

Today the New York Times posted a beautiful collection of pictures in which images from science and technology are presented artistically. These are from the Princeton University Art of Science Competition. My favorite is #10 shown on the left, "Two Fish Swimming Side-by-Side," which shows vortices spinning off of two fins (bottom of the photo) flapping in-phase. Water loaded with hydrogen nanobubbles is flowing from the bottom to the top past the fins. The stripes of bubble-containing and bubble-free water shows how the vortices are created and propagate away from the fins.

NASA Terra MODIS image

Vortex streets are common in the oceans and atmosphere. Here's a Terra MODIS image of one formed when the clouds over the ocean are disturbed by an obstacle, in this case Madeira Island.  A second interesting feature in this photo is the pattern of the clouds in general. There are roughly hexagonal cells of air. These form when the air is heated at the base (or cooled at the top). Warm air rises in the centers and sinks around the edges. This pattern frequently arises when you heat a pot of water on the stove, and is called Rayleigh-Bernard convection.