Uploaded June 2012 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I filmed this whirlpool In Hayle harbour, Cornwall.
The whirlpool is formed by water passing under a tunnel as the tide drain's.
If you have any questions or would like me to film the whirlpool differently next time in anyway please ask in the comment box below
Here's some info I found online about how whirlpools are formed - A whirlpool is a small "underwater" tornado. It is created by two currents or tides coming from different directions and colliding.
With respect to whirlpool or vortex formation over the open drain of a reservoir, a quick survey suggests the abundant web-commentary is superficially satisfied with explaining the vortex's clockwise or counter-clockwise rotation, while slightly less abundant commentary convincingly seeks to de-bunk the former. Both are likely "red herrings" that divert attention from the more fundamental question of "WHY" a vortex forms at all. An answer to the latter expressed in terms of the physics (i.e. thermodynamic drivers) and supporting math also seems either lacking or indiscernible amongst the noise. Yet when integrated with other evolving insights, the answer to this simple and perhaps overlooked question may have important implications guiding understandings of more substantial mysteries of physics spanning the planck and cosmic scales. If the answer lays in the science of fluid dynamics, those trained in such are eagerly invited to comment here.
In the interim, it's anticipated that a roughly-stated lay-answer might look something like the following: 1) Nature, ever seeking to increase entropy 2) can do so by routing the fluid through the reservoir on a straight-line path into the drain where it drops to a lower potential-energy state nearer the assumed gravitational influence. 3) But given the constrained flow rate imposed by the drain's limited volume, and the maximum acceleration rate imposed by the ambient gravitational force, 4) nature "chooses" instead to form a vortex and route the fluid over the longer distances of its spiral path to extend the time over which the fluid is accelerated 5) thus achieving higher flow rates through the "bottle-necked" drain than could be achieved over the straight-line path. 6) In so doing, nature is able to maximize the rate at which entropy increases.
While the training is lacking to know whether the involvement of time and "entropic rates" are explicitly integrated into the prevailing science, they seem none-the-less both self-emergent and clearly integral to vortex formation, prima fascia.
Read more: wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_whirlpools_form#ixzz1x22vzkxQ
I filmed this whirlpool In Hayle harbour, Cornwall.
The whirlpool is formed by water passing under a tunnel as the tide drain's.
If you have any questions or would like me to film the whirlpool differently next time in anyway please ask in the comment box below
Here's some info I found online about how whirlpools are formed - A whirlpool is a small "underwater" tornado. It is created by two currents or tides coming from different directions and colliding.
With respect to whirlpool or vortex formation over the open drain of a reservoir, a quick survey suggests the abundant web-commentary is superficially satisfied with explaining the vortex's clockwise or counter-clockwise rotation, while slightly less abundant commentary convincingly seeks to de-bunk the former. Both are likely "red herrings" that divert attention from the more fundamental question of "WHY" a vortex forms at all. An answer to the latter expressed in terms of the physics (i.e. thermodynamic drivers) and supporting math also seems either lacking or indiscernible amongst the noise. Yet when integrated with other evolving insights, the answer to this simple and perhaps overlooked question may have important implications guiding understandings of more substantial mysteries of physics spanning the planck and cosmic scales. If the answer lays in the science of fluid dynamics, those trained in such are eagerly invited to comment here.
In the interim, it's anticipated that a roughly-stated lay-answer might look something like the following: 1) Nature, ever seeking to increase entropy 2) can do so by routing the fluid through the reservoir on a straight-line path into the drain where it drops to a lower potential-energy state nearer the assumed gravitational influence. 3) But given the constrained flow rate imposed by the drain's limited volume, and the maximum acceleration rate imposed by the ambient gravitational force, 4) nature "chooses" instead to form a vortex and route the fluid over the longer distances of its spiral path to extend the time over which the fluid is accelerated 5) thus achieving higher flow rates through the "bottle-necked" drain than could be achieved over the straight-line path. 6) In so doing, nature is able to maximize the rate at which entropy increases.
While the training is lacking to know whether the involvement of time and "entropic rates" are explicitly integrated into the prevailing science, they seem none-the-less both self-emergent and clearly integral to vortex formation, prima fascia.
Read more: wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_whirlpools_form#ixzz1x22vzkxQ
