The Circular Jump is a White Hole

November 13, 2010 4:55 PM

Circular jumps (previously) form when you turn on your tap and the water lands in a thin circular disk with a raised lip. Jannes et al have now shown that circular jumps are examples of hydrodynamic white holes: waves can escape the jump, but not enter it.

That first link , by the way, shows examples of how higher-viscosity fluids can result in polygonal and clover-shaped jumps, some even asymmetric.

posted by jjray (19 comments total)

The cat's eye jump looks more like a vagina jump, amirite?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 5:14 PM on November 13, 2010 [4 favorites]

A white hole?
posted by Mwongozi at 5:20 PM on November 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Does this mean a large enough kitchen sink could be used as an exit portal, should you be sucked into a black hole?

Don't forget your (tea)towel.
posted by Raunchy 60s Humour at 5:26 PM on November 13, 2010

Very cool. Sending the first link to a friend who's a chemical engineer and will love this if he hasn't already seen it.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 5:38 PM on November 13, 2010

I think I just got a science boner. Thanks, OP.
posted by auto-correct at 5:38 PM on November 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

A white hole?

This is the first I hear about these, too. Apparently it's theoretically possible to enter an alternate universe through a rotating black hole and then a rotating white hole.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 6:05 PM on November 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

So if you had a tiny little boat then it would be physically impossible to row into one of these?
posted by clorox at 6:30 PM on November 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

So if you had a tiny little boat then it would be physically impossible to row into one of these?

I think, also, if you had a tiny surfboard you could ride the wave forever.
posted by device55 at 6:50 PM on November 13, 2010

A white hole?

They're quite common. I have one in my pants.
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:07 PM on November 13, 2010

So if you had a tiny little boat then it would be physically impossible to row into one of these?

It's possible to row faster than the waves (well, maybe not row, but motorboats do it all the time). So you could enter the inside of the jump. The speed of light, on the other hand, is a much more fundamental property of space than the speed of surface waves in water is, which is why black holes have all those interesting properties.
posted by hattifattener at 7:57 PM on November 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

A white hole?

So what is it?
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 8:11 PM on November 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

The comments on that technology review blog post were out of control.
posted by snofoam at 8:24 PM on November 13, 2010

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing: that is a hell of an animated GIF right there. "Parallel interior antihorizon," you say?
posted by danb at 9:51 PM on November 13, 2010

So what is it?

Ha ha, came here to post that.
posted by nzero at 10:29 PM on November 13, 2010

I enter an alternative universe through a brown hole myself.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:25 AM on November 14, 2010

"Parallel interior antihorizon" and "White hole". Great now I've got even more things to be frightened of in my kitchen.
posted by quarsan at 3:19 AM on November 14, 2010

A white hole?

So what is it?

A white hole?
posted by alby at 3:19 AM on November 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

Apparently it's theoretically possible to enter an alternate universe through a rotating black hole and then a rotating white hole

"At the moment that you cross the inner horizon, you see an infinitely blueshifted point of light appear directly ahead, in the direction of the black hole. This infinitely blueshifted point of light is a record of the entire past history of the Universe, condensed into an instant."
posted by Xezlec at 7:16 AM on November 14, 2010

So if you had a tiny little boat then it would be physically impossible to row into one of these?

I think, also, if you had a tiny surfboard you could ride the wave forever.

But say you had a tiny airplane trying to take off...
posted by FatherDagon at 1:58 PM on November 15, 2010