VIDEO: Laminar Flow Is Really Confusing

If you lick a dog you’ll get hairs in your mouth. If you touch a sweaty man you’ll get a moist aromatic hand. If you jump into a fire wearing a shell suit you will burn. These are all physical interactions we can easily predict, understand and avoid.

The physical world doesn’t give us too many surprises on a daily basis. Things tend to fall towards the earth, the sun rises in the morning, Jeremy Kyle is always annoying etc etc. These things we can rely on.

There’s something quite reassuring about the constants in life and I feel my security has been somewhat shaken this evening. I have been introduced to laminar flow. Before I met laminar flow I assumed that if you stir things up they would mix together and remain mixed unless you applied some chemical jiggery-pokery. Laminar flow has punched that right out of the water.

Laminar flow, or streamline flow, occurs when fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption between them. As long as the velocity of the fluids is kept at a tame tempo the layers move over each other like playing cards. This isn’t particularly interesting until you see the video. I still can’t quite believe this is real.

They place three blobs of dye into the corn syrup by stirring the contraption round in a circular motion, then they turn the stream the other way round and hey presto the blobs separate back out again.

This is just corn syrup and basic dyes. OOooooh nature: