Thursday, October 16, 2008

Thanks Chrissi


So our cousin Chrissi sent this to us in an email today and we thought it was awesome enough for the blog and you wonderful folks who read it. If I could choose to be any animal in the world besides a unicorn or a pegasus, I would choose to be a dolphin. They are such amazing and playful creatures, I can't even whistle and yet they can make these extraordinary bubbles to use as play toys. Why or why wasn't I born a dolphin? Then I could be talented!

For subscribers (This is a video guys so you have to go directly to the blog to see it.)



An explanation of how dolphins make these silver rings is that they are"air-core vortex rings". Invisible, spinning vortices in the water are generated from the tip of a dolphin's dorsal fin when it is moving rapidly and turning. When dolphins break the line, the ends are drawn together into a closed ring. The higher velocity fluid around the core of the vortex is at a lower pressure than the fluid circulating farther away.. Air is injected into the rings via bubbles released from the dolphin's blowhole. The energy of the water vortex is enough to keep the bubbles from rising for a reasonably few seconds of play time.

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