By Larry Cotton and Phil Bowie
Laminar-flow water charms and fascinates. It behaves quite differently from ordinary turbulent water, such as the flow from a faucet or garden hose. A laminar stream is so perfect it could pass for a glass rod. It doesn’t splash upon hitting a surface, it will conduct light like a fiber-optic cable, and it’s so cohesive, it will enwrap and levitate a smooth sphere, even at a surprising angle to the vertical.
In 2011, we drove 600 miles from our North Carolina homes to Disney’s Epcot theme park to study the “Leap Frog” fountain, which chops a laminar stream into arcs, creating impish, cavorting water creatures. We’ve been obsessed with laminar flow phenomena ever since, joining an online cult of experimenters.
We have achieved laminar flow simply and inexpensively by making a nozzle from a big plastic peanut butter jar, scrub pads, drinking straws, and standard PVC pipe and hose fittings. A fine way to show off its elegant stream is to build a fountain using this nozzle as its heart. It’s easy to make, and can produce captivating shapes or even levitate lightweight spheres.
Those are lovely water features! I wish I had one at home but I’m afraid my cat might use it as his personal drinking fountain, hahaha!
How big is .08 of an inch?
really? OMFG LOL
What he might not use inches … Cm is what most people use now day’s
Yeah_Google is actually what most people use nowaday…
Approx 14GA sheet, 12AWG, 14SWG, #46 drill bit, 5/64″, or 2.032mm.
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I have a freeboard flow fountain in my foyer and it’s splashing all over my floor. My son mentioned the theory of laminar flow to solve my problem but I don’t know where to begin. It is the kind of fountain that you would find in a garden: water flows from the top into a bowl which then spills into a basin @41 inches below. The problem is two-fold: the fountain isn’t level and so the water is only flowing off the front of the bowl; the water, when it falls into the basin, hits the base of the bowl pedestal or makes direct contact with the standing water in the basin and splashes out of the basin onto my floor. I would like to solve both problems. It’s 100 years old and made of beautiful tile but it’s creating quite a mess.
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