stackyFACTSWhen a steady wind hits a cylindrical object like a smokestack, the air does not just flow around it peacefully.
When a steady wind hits a cylindrical object like a smokestack, the air does not just flow around it peacefully. It detaches in violent, alternating low-pressure swirls on either side, known as a Kármán vortex street. These rhythmic vortices aggressively pull at the cylinder, causing severe structural vibrations. This is exactly why you see weird helical fins spiraling up industrial chimneys; they forcefully break up the wind before it can start a rhythm.
Keep exploring facts in this topic.
Technology →STACKY FOR IPHONEKeep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.
Round metal tubes punch terrible holes through the wind. To win races, the frames are squashed into aggressive teardrop shapes that smoothly part the air.…
Discover more
Traditional rocket nozzles look like bells, and they are incredibly inefficient because they only work perfectly at one specific atmospheric pressure. An…
Discover more
Microscopic clay particles suspended in dirty water possess identical electrical charges, meaning they aggressively repel each other and never settle to the…
Discover more
Sometimes the simplest physical barrier is all it takes to govern massive systems. A non-return valve features a mechanical flap held perfectly shut by a…
Discover more
When an open pipe suddenly narrows, the water doesn't back up; it panics. The Venturi effect dictates that to get the exact same amount of liquid through the…
Discover more
Before throwing a wildly expensive vehicle into the sky, creators strap models into massive cylindrical tubes and blast them with hurricane-force winds. By…
Discover more