Some Observable Flow Phenomena

• Describe the movement of the engine exhaust fluid from a stationary car when the engine is idling.  How does it differ from the situation when the car is moving?
• Observe the movement of fluid from a tall smokestack or chimney.  What causes the fluid to move the way it does?  Describe the fluid movement at different distances from the top of the chimney.
• On a windy day, determine how much protection you seem to get from the wind by standing different distances from a wooden telephone pole or electric power line pole.
• Why does a cloth flag flap in the wind and not stay at a fixed position?
• Why do equal sized tree branches at different elevations from the ground move at different speeds when it is windy?
• Next time it rains sufficiently for water to pond and move across paved surfaces, determine how the water moves on relatively flat and steeper slopes.  Examine flow some distance from a gutter and in the gutter.  How would you measure the flow velocity and volumetric flow rate in a gutter?
• How does soil “dry out” between storms?  If you dig a hole in the ground and reach a depth at which standing water occurs, why is the soil wet but not saturated above that level?
• When you turn on the faucet in a standard kitchen sink what happens to the water when it strikes the sink?  Observe the situation for various flow rates for now water initially contained in the sink (with and without a drain plug) and for the situation when there are about three inches of water in the sink.
• What happens to the flow from the fountain in the pond outside Rowan Hall?  Observe the jet just as it leaves the fountain nozzles, at the peak of its motion, and as the flow enters the pond again.  What factors affect the size of the droplets that are formed?
• How does a beach “migrate?”  The next time you are at the shore, walk along the surf zone and examine how sand grains are moved by the waves.  How many different types of motion can you identify?  What are the causes of each of the types of motion?
• Observe the nature of materials on a streambed.  Where do you find larger sized and where do you find finer-grained materials?  Why?  A stroll along the creek on campus on a pleasant day will be enjoyable and provide many opportunities to examine this situation.

Keep looking!  There are many fascinating fluid phenomena to observe!
 

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