Airfoil - Bartosz Ciechanowski
February 28, 2024 3:07 AM Subscribe
"The particles are zipping around in random directions, constantly entering and leaving this region. However, despite all this motion what you’re seeing here is a simulation of still air." Elaborate 14,000-word web-essay by Bartosz Ciechanowski (previously) via lobster.rs
This guy!
As a science educator, I am humbled every time he creates a new thing.
posted by Acari at 7:18 AM on February 28
As a science educator, I am humbled every time he creates a new thing.
posted by Acari at 7:18 AM on February 28
Holy cylindrical cow.
(Also entertaining: CPU/energy use while reading this.)
posted by clew at 12:02 PM on February 28
(Also entertaining: CPU/energy use while reading this.)
posted by clew at 12:02 PM on February 28
can anyone better explain the thing he says about the average velocity of air being over a thousand miles per hour? i was looking at this the other day and he completely lost me there, and couldn't find an explanation or corroboration for this claim, but then i didn't look very long before i got distracted by something else
posted by glonous keming at 5:05 PM on February 28
posted by glonous keming at 5:05 PM on February 28
can anyone better explain the thing he says about the average velocity of air being over a thousand miles per hour?
I bet I can't better explain it, but I can try. First though it's important to note that the article says that 1030mph is the average speed of a molecule, not its average velocity.
In physics, though rarely in conversational use, velocity and speed are two different things. Speed is how fast you're going, relative to your surroundings, regardless of direction. Velocity is how fast you're going, and what direction you're going. If a thousand molecules are going North at 1000mph, and another 1000 are going South at the same speed, their average speed is 1000mph but their average velocity is zero.
As described in the article, air is like a moshpit with molecules hurtling around in all directions but also colliding and changing direction. Regardless of how fast I throw myself about, I end up largely in the same place. Lots of speed, no velocity to speak of.
It's tempting to see a heavy metaphor here: people are just like air molecules, each going in their own direction and getting nowhere. How supersmashinglovely would it be if for a change we all went in the same direction? It's easy to imagine that being awesome, but often the world has other ideas.
posted by BCMagee at 6:49 AM on February 29 [2 favorites]
I bet I can't better explain it, but I can try. First though it's important to note that the article says that 1030mph is the average speed of a molecule, not its average velocity.
In physics, though rarely in conversational use, velocity and speed are two different things. Speed is how fast you're going, relative to your surroundings, regardless of direction. Velocity is how fast you're going, and what direction you're going. If a thousand molecules are going North at 1000mph, and another 1000 are going South at the same speed, their average speed is 1000mph but their average velocity is zero.
As described in the article, air is like a moshpit with molecules hurtling around in all directions but also colliding and changing direction. Regardless of how fast I throw myself about, I end up largely in the same place. Lots of speed, no velocity to speak of.
It's tempting to see a heavy metaphor here: people are just like air molecules, each going in their own direction and getting nowhere. How supersmashinglovely would it be if for a change we all went in the same direction? It's easy to imagine that being awesome, but often the world has other ideas.
posted by BCMagee at 6:49 AM on February 29 [2 favorites]
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