LIQUID VORTEX




PHOTO COURTESY OF http://www.nhm.ac.uk/museum/tempexhib/turbulent/mainimage/vortex.jpg


Taking closer look at the liquid vortex we see the vortices illustrated in a more familiar and everyday instance.

A basic example of a liquid vortex is a flushing toilet.

Picture courtesy of http://www.us.kohler.com/tech/products/why_flushsystems.jsp


Another example of a liquid vortex is when you get up in the morning and pour that cup of coffee, add in the cream and sugar, and stir it all together. What you are actually doing is; using the spoon to cause turbulence in your coffee, by making many vortices to mix the coffee, cream and sugar together.



http://www.sendfunny.com/funpages/animations/man_stirring_coffee_mug_md_wht.gif

Recreational example of a liquid vortex is a person white water kayaking. When water is crashing over a submerged ledge or rock it becomes chaotic and creates a hole. A hole creates a vortex underneath the water that actually rotates in an upstream direction. A kayaker who falls into a hole is pushed back upstream against the ledge that created the hole, then driven down underwater. Often the only way out of a vortex is to dive to the bottom of the river, where some of the water crashing into the hole flows under the vortex. A kayaker who gets into that deep current can follow it out of the hole and then resurface.


http://www.caam.rice.edu/~winslow/kayak/