Two research groups from the Department of Mathematical Sciences have been featured for work presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics. This meeting, held in San Antonio, Texas, November 23-25, attracted well over 1000 scientists from around the world. Presentations by Richard Braun, Kara Maki, John A. Pelesko, and Derek Moulton, have attracted the attention of the scientific community. An article about the work by Braun and Maki on human tear films appeared on the LiveScience web site. In the article, graduate student Kara Maki is featured for her work on the dynamics of the tear film when reflex tearing occurs. Slicing an onion is a classic cause of reflex tearing; when the increased tear production starts, the tear fluid may overcome normally occurring barriers to flow across the middle of the eye. Maki and her PhD advisor, Dr. Richard Braun, quantified this phenomenon with an simplified mathematical model, which was solved on a computer. They are currently extending the models to more realistic geometries and conditions. More information can be found in the article at
http://www.livescience.com/health/081120-teardrop-physics.html.

Dr. John Pelesko and his recent PhD graduate Dr. Derek Moulton, now at the University of Arizona, were invited to prepare a lay-language version of their work on magnetic soap films for the American Physical Society's virtual press room. Pelesko and Moulton have added magnetic nanoparticles to a standard soap film and recorded the results when a magnetic field is applied. A variety of exciting effects are observed, including having the soap film drain upward against gravity. The striking visual patters observed in the experiments are available in the APS virtual pressroom at http://www.aps.org/units/dfd/pressroom/papers/bubbles.cfm.

Article created: November 22, 2008