Video inside centrifuge shows we don't understand fluid physics (opens in new tab)

(newscientist.com)

11 pointswayvey2y ago5 comments

5 comments

4 comments · 2 top-level

yawpitch2y ago· 2 in thread

Is it that we don’t understand fluid physics, or that we don’t understand centrifuges?

Given that both the article and the video seem to assume that there is a real centrifugal force, maybe the latter?

Still really cool to finally see inside one of the damned things.

gus_massa2y ago

It's not a problem with centrifuges. We don't understand fluid physics. :(

We understand fluid physics locally and we can write a differential equation, and solve it numerically. We can solve it for some easy cases, like incompresible liquid without turbulence in a pipe, but the general problem is very hard. So hard that there is a million dollar prize for the person that can solve it. If you want to do down that rabbit hole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navier%E2%80%93Stokes_equation...

kdwikzncba2y ago

> It's not a problem with centrifuges. We don't understand fluid physics. :(

The phenomenon on the video is a consequence on the centrifuge itself. If you think that fluid in a centrifuge behaves like fluid at rest with extra gravitational pull, the problem there is your misunderstanding of non inertial reference frames, not your misunderstanding of fluids. In simple terms: going around in circles isn't the same as standing still.

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cjnicholls2y ago

https://archive.is/PwTo5

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