Latest Capillary wave Stories

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Invisibility cloaking may one day help to shield ships floating around in the ocean from waves, according to research presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society (APS). The new approach to invisibility cloaking is based on the influence of the ocean floor's topography on various "layers" of ocean water. Reza Alam, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley,...

Just about any road with a loose surface "” sand or gravel or snow "” develops ripples that make driving a very shaky experience. A team of physicists from Canada, France and the United Kingdom have recreated this "washboard" phenomenon in the lab with surprising results: ripples appear even when the springy suspension of the car and the rolling shape of the wheel are eliminated. The discovery may smooth the way to designing improved suspension systems that eliminate the bumpy...