The Hidden Beauty in the Mundane
Physicist Sidney Nagel has spent his career on topics that are somewhat unexpected: how coffee stains form, how droplets splash — or don’t, and how fluid flows into viscous fingers. Often this means looking at the mechanics of everyday occurrences that we otherwise take for granted. Instead, Nagel probes carefully at things like a coffee stain, asking why it’s darker at the edges and what he could do to keep that from happening — all to ultimately uncover the forces and mechanisms at play. Quanta has a great little interview with him on this and other topics. Check it out here. (Image credit: S. Nagel and K. Norman; via Quanta)
The Hidden Beauty in the Mundane
Physicist Sidney Nagel has spent his career on topics that are somewhat unexpected: how coffee stains form, how droplets splash — or don’t, and how fluid flows into viscous fingers. Often this means looking at the mechanics of everyday occurrences that we otherwise take for granted. Instead, Nagel probes carefully at things like a coffee stain, asking why it’s darker at the edges and what he could do to keep that from happening — all to ultimately uncover the forces and mechanisms at play. Quanta has a great little interview with him on this and other topics. Check it out here. (Image credit: S. Nagel and K. Norman; via Quanta)
![XKCD comic #3093 "Drafting" https://xkcd.com/3093/
transcript & explanation from ExplainXKCD https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3093:_Drafting
transcript:
[A rocket with two boosters is launching. A smaller rocket is following the first rocket very close, inside its exhaust plume. The first rocket has a tow-stage core, and two boosters. It produces 3 big flames. The second rocket does not have boosters. It produces 3 small flames.]
[Caption below the panel:]
Aerospace tip: Although the technique reduces atmospheric drag for many types of vehicles, you should never try to improve rocket launch efficiency through drafting.
title/mouseover text:
A 5% efficiency gain at the cost of a 99% efficiency loss
explanation:
Drafting is an aerodynamic technique where one moving object follows another one closely to reduce drag by using the first objects splitstream. It is used in various sports, most prominently cycling.
The comic explores the idea of using drafting for rockets and states that while it theoretically works, it isn't really recommended. The title text gives more details on this, claiming that there is an efficiency gain of 5% through drafting via the general mechanism, it also comes with a 99% loss (which isn't explained in detail).](/images/status/b529465b-e629-4cf3-9aa9-e38e0d02f293.png "XKCD comic #3093 \"Drafting\" https://xkcd.com/3093/
transcript & explanation from ExplainXKCD https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3093:_Drafting
transcript:
[A rocket with two boosters is launching. A smaller rocket is following the first rocket very close, inside its exhaust plume. The first rocket has a tow-stage core, and two boosters. It produces 3 big flames. The second rocket does not have boosters. It produces 3 small flames.]
[Caption below the panel:]
Aerospace tip: Although the technique reduces atmospheric drag for many types of vehicles, you should never try to improve rocket launch efficiency through drafting.
title/mouseover text:
A 5% efficiency gain at the cost of a 99% efficiency loss
explanation:
Drafting is an aerodynamic technique where one moving object follows another one closely to reduce drag by using the first objects splitstream. It is used in various sports, most prominently cycling.
The comic explores the idea of using drafting for rockets and states that while it theoretically works, it isn't really recommended. The title text gives more details on this, claiming that there is an efficiency gain of 5% through drafting via the general mechanism, it also comes with a 99% loss (which isn't explained in detail).")
![Gustav Hertz
The American Institute of Physics credits the photo [1] to AB Lagrelius & Westphal, which is the Swedish printmaker used by the Nobel Foundation for most prints/engraving of its book series Les Prix Nobel. - http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1925/hertz-bio.html](/images/status/245d9712-fce1-405f-b484-2401edb50843.jpeg "Gustav Hertz
The American Institute of Physics credits the photo [1] to AB Lagrelius & Westphal, which is the Swedish printmaker used by the Nobel Foundation for most prints/engraving of its book series Les Prix Nobel. - http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1925/hertz-bio.html")
![Portrait of Emmy Noether, around 1900.
Unknown author Publisher: Mathematical Association of America [3], Brooklyn Museum [4], Agnes Scott College [5], [6] - Emmy Noether (1882-1935), Archived
The photograph shows Noether as a poised young woman, reflecting the academic environment of the era. Dressed in period attire typical of the late 19th to early 20th century, she appears composed and introspective, a visual contrast to the intellectual revolution she would later ignite in mathematics.](/images/status/12f66b81-1398-491d-ae5d-0ef1f98495c8.jpeg "Portrait of Emmy Noether, around 1900.
Unknown author Publisher: Mathematical Association of America [3], Brooklyn Museum [4], Agnes Scott College [5], [6] - Emmy Noether (1882-1935), Archived
The photograph shows Noether as a poised young woman, reflecting the academic environment of the era. Dressed in period attire typical of the late 19th to early 20th century, she appears composed and introspective, a visual contrast to the intellectual revolution she would later ignite in mathematics.")
