Turbulence Equations Discovered after Century-Long Quest

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February 10, 2022

Dear Reader, This week, we're going back to basics with a selection of articles highlighting classic problems in physics that are receiving fresh reappraisals. First up, our lead story reports on new work uncovering the long-sought equations dictating how turbulence arises within liquids sloshing around a container. From there, you can explore the remarkable history of quantum spin—the counterintuitive phenomenon that ensures matter's solidity, and thus prevents you falling through the floor as you read this. Finally, peruse our piece about a new application of the Leidenfrost effect, an interaction between hot and cold materials that can cause liquid water, and now solid ice, to levitate on a cushion of gas.

Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Space & Physics @LeeBillings

Quantum Physics Turbulence Equations Discovered after Century-Long Quest The formulas describe the complex behavior of a liquid when it meets a boundary By Rachel Crowell

Quantum Physics 100 Years Ago, a Quantum Experiment Explained Why We Don't Fall through Our Chairs The basic concept of quantum spin provides an understanding of a vast range of physical phenomena By Davide Castelvecchi

Particle Physics How to Levitate Ice--With Science New research leverages old physics to turn ice pucks into hovercraft By Joanna Thompson

Quantum Physics The High-Speed Physics of Olympic Sledding, Explained There is more to the bobsled, luge and skeleton events than merely sliding down steep, icy slopes By John Eric Goff,The Conversation US

Black Holes Major African Radio Telescope Will Help to Image Black Holes The $25-million facility in Namibia will be the continent's first millimeter-range astronomical observatory By Sarah Wild,Nature magazine

Space Exploration NASA Plans a Fiery End for the International Space Station by 2031 The space agency has announced the timing of the ISS's demise as part of a long-planned transition to private orbital outposts By Mike Wall,SPACE.com

Black Holes Astronomers Find First Ever Rogue Black Hole Adrift in the Milky Way Weighing in at seven times the mass of our sun, the dark object is by far the best-yet candidate for a free-floating stellar-mass black hole By Jonathan O'Callaghan

FROM THE STORE Mars: A New Era of Exploration Was there ever life on Mars? Could life exist there? The latest of nearly 50 missions, NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover is the opening shot of an ambitious plan to find answers. In this eBook, we look at the Red Planet: what we've learned from past rovers, the challenges of space travel and searching for life, proposals for how to make Mars livable and how Perseverance could change everything we know for decades to come.

QUOTE OF THE DAY "It's very cool--literally." Mojtaba Edalatpour, researcher at Virginia Tech and lead author on a study demonstrating how to levitate ice using the Leidenfrost effect

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FROM THE ARCHIVE Wandering in the Void, Billions of Rogue Planets without a Home New results suggest free-floating giant planets are less common than previously believed, but hint at vast numbers of smaller castaway worlds By Lee Billings | July 2017

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