Uploaded March 2013 | Updated September 2026, 12 hours ago
When air flows around the wing of an airplane, it creates vortices of swirling air. When that wing accelerates suddenly, two vortices form and circle in opposite directions. Sometimes these circles link with one another to create knots. Knots occur in nature and physicists have theorized for the last hundred years that they could be created in liquid, too. Physicists have now figured out a way to create them and have 3-D footage of the results, which were published in Nature Physics.
Read the full story at: discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/watch-this-knots-made-of-water-seen-in-3-d
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Video courtesy Dustin Kleckner and William T. M. Irvine / Nature Physics
Music "Biology Slides" by Bleak House (keshco.co.uk/bleakhouse)
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When air flows around the wing of an airplane, it creates vortices of swirling air. When that wing accelerates suddenly, two vortices form and circle in opposite directions. Sometimes these circles link with one another to create knots. Knots occur in nature and physicists have theorized for the last hundred years that they could be created in liquid, too. Physicists have now figured out a way to create them and have 3-D footage of the results, which were published in Nature Physics.
Read the full story at: discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/watch-this-knots-made-of-water-seen-in-3-d
—
Video courtesy Dustin Kleckner and William T. M. Irvine / Nature Physics
Music "Biology Slides" by Bleak House (keshco.co.uk/bleakhouse)
—
ABOUT DISCOVER:
Discover is your source for science that matters, makes sense and is a lot of fun, too.
Visit us at: discovermagazine.com
FOLLOW US:
Facebook: facebook.com/DiscoverMag
Twitter: twitter.com/DiscoverMag
Instagram: instagram.com/discover.magazine
SUPPORT US:
Subscribe to Discover: bit.ly/34seAFT
Sign up for our newsletter: discovermagazine.com/newsletter-signup
My Science Shop: myscienceshop.com
STAY CURIOUS!










