039/366: Mist Vortex

Friday was yet another heavy kid-wrangling day, as the Pip had a minor surgical procedure in the early morning, which required general anaesthesia. This was done before 9am, but we had to keep him home from school for the day to watch for ill effects. Of which there were none, so he and I went out to the local science museum for a bit, to break up the cartoon-watching that was the other primary activity of the day.

I've posted a bunch of cute-kid photos already, though, so here's one that's just science museum stuff:

Smoke tornado at MiSci. Smoke tornado at MiSci.

That's the artificial tornado exhibit-- a platform with mist rising from it and some fans set to blow in a way that introduces some vorticity. And when it's left alone for a bit, it sometimes makes these cool misty tornado things. Interestingly, they tend to be wider at the bottom, the reverse of the classic funnel-cloud shape. I suspect this is because the fans stirring things are at the bottom rather than the top, but my knowledge of fluid mechanics is about as solid as that column of mist, so I could easily be wrong.

Anyway, I thought they looked cool, so there's your photo of the (yester)day. Today's a soccer-coaching morning, followed by something or another for the afternoon, so don't expect great artistry, or on-time posting...

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