Preston Marcoux: Best Of Web 2016

Ross Whales creating a toroidal vortex.

While this still image of Ross Whales youtube video does not display the same level of beauty other flow vis images posess, the physics of the toroidal vortex is simply amazing. The vortex ring is a rotating fluid (in this case air that came from the divers lungs) that moves through the ocean to the surface, which results in the donut ring shown. With air being less dense than the water, the air bubble is pushed to the surface.

Ross Whales has done an incredible job photographing this phenomenon, however I believe the true beauty of the toroidal vortex has yet to be photographed. Especially with the fact that some dolphins & whales have the natural ability of making these vortexes. There are videos on the web of dolphins playing with their own toroidal vortex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU0O4l1tCk4?rel=0

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Water streaming from a spinning open cell sponge forms spiral trails.

Four gold coins falling through water shed paint and entrained air, in a metaphor for the value of water as a resource.

Wet sponge impact on a human face in slow motion.

Vortices roll up as the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability forms in a tilted 2 meter long tank of dyed stratified salt water.

The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability develops in a tilted tank of stratified fluids

Vortexes roll up as the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability develops in a tilted tank of stratified fluids