Fluids are Cool Gallery – some past submissions

A collection of creative work depicting the science, beauty, and mystery of fluids

The Moods of Water – submitted by Evan Savage ’21

Water can meander
As melting snow drip-drips down high-flying peaks
Into soft streams below

Water can flow
Down rocks, over logs and through meadows
Turbulent streamlines melting into velvet as you watch
Carving its name into the ground

Water can plunge
Freefall freezing droplets like the snapshot of a photo finish
Pounding like thunder
Breaking bedrock to form new cracks into the crust of time

Water can sit dead still
Reflecting back everything it witnesses
A perfect mirror upon which the mountains can reflect

Lake in Szechuan with long exposure, by Bowen Hou ’21

Icicles hang from a guardrail along the Atlantic coastline at sunrise. Submitted by Isabel Gleckner ’21

A Fluids Sonnet
By Nicolette Sonmez ’20

A student asked, “Why do fluids matter?”
His Professor took a deep breath and said:
A fluid is the raindrops that patter,
A fluid is the soup which keeps you fed.

A fluid is the water you must drink,
A fluid is the fuel in your new car.
A fluid is the blood which helps you to think,
A fluid is the protective cloud afar.

A fluid is the ocean which helps keep you cool,
A fluid is the air through which all things live.
A fluid is the level, your trusty tool,
A fluid is the ink with knowledge to give.

The Professor asked, “Now do you see why?”
The student said, “Not really, but I’ll try”.

Leo’s ripples. Submitted by Theresa Reichman ’21

Original acrylic drip painting of fluid flow using fluid flow. Submitted by Katie Ullmann ’21

Four seasons on Lake Marie. Submitted by Hannah Cooke, ’21

Fluids are Cool – Semester Review
– submitted by Chris Romano ’19

Oh, to be a sheet of laminar flow!
Such peaceful bliss is one that I may never know.
To avoid the harsh eddies that arise in turbulent tow
And instead slide upon brethren as ducks fly in a row.

For streamlines of life are never so easy,
As those defined in our beloved Bernoulli.
For in the hustle and bustle, work and the scurry
Stagnation points escape me as I move in a hurry.

Final exams: They call to me from the calendar.
Taunting, teasing, they scream “Come hither!”
The stress, it mounts, devoicing anxious sobs in my throat.
Pressure rising like hydrostatic force beneath a boat.

– But oh, what’s this?
Could it be divine mercy!
Concepts; lectures – at last to be understood!
Similitude and energy: they save of me what they could!
Free me of the chain that is piezometric head
For elevation? Pressure? EGL, HGL? (Oh do I need to go to bed)
Surely on the test I did not know what was to be said!
Now I sing thanks for sweet fortune’s kiss!
The energy equation’s comfort is one that I will surely miss.

Praise be to the deities of fluids;
For if they were to have pondered the impact that they would have on their posterity, they would never have knew it.
Toricelli and Newton; Euler and Joule
Water thicker than blood in this world where fluids are oh so cool.
The 10 commandments enshrined through table A5
One semester in and I’m just glad the head loss experienced here has not been mine!

Haiku by Sarah Walko ’15:
Water, when it flows
Can be viscous, turbulent
Delicate, one knows

The beauty of surface tension at Glen Onoko Falls – submitted by Zack Coleman ’19

Original watercolor of droplets with surface tension – submitted by Shaneena Alabado ’19

Water”fall” Skogafoss, Iceland – submitted by Nouman Naveed ’19

“Morning Turbulence”
Oils on canvas submitted by Vanessa Pagano ’19

The Zen of Fluids: Turbulent flow as shown through an Essential Oil Diffuser – submitted by Brynn Fuller-Becker ’19

Ripples and turbulent flow at the water surface aerate the water for the goldfish - submitted by Lauren Onatzevitch

Ripples and turbulent flow at the water surface aerate the water for the goldfish
– submitted by Lauren Onatzevitch

Bleck - Oobleck's shear strength and viscosity increase when the fluid is agitated. It also makes a large mess when poured on a table. - submitted by  Louis Papsdorf

Bleck – Oobleck’s shear strength and viscosity increase when the fluid is agitated. It also makes a large mess when poured on a table. – submitted by Louis Papsdorf

Experimental brewing system at Weyerbacher brewery in Easton - pipes, valves, pumps, gages, controls...the works. Submitted by Jack Hillman

Experimental brewing system at Weyerbacher brewery in Easton – pipes, valves, pumps, gages, controls…the works. Submitted by Jack Hillman

DaVinci does drag. Streamlines around various objects under laminar and turbulent flow. Submitted by Lauren Onatzevitch

DaVinci does drag. Streamlines around various objects under laminar and turbulent flow. Original work by Lauren Onatzevitch

Manometers used to indicate degree of fermentation in a winery. As CO2 is formed the manometer fluid is pushed to the right - submitted by Colin Lenskold

Manometers used to indicate degree of fermentation in a winery. As CO2 is formed the manometer fluid is pushed to the right – submitted by Colin Lenskold

Acrylic painting of turbulent flow around a sphere - by Laura Strang

Acrylic painting of turbulent flow around a sphere – original work by Laura Strang

Turbulent wake behind a leaf in campus runoff. Submitted by Ziqi Chen

Turbulent wake behind a leaf in campus runoff. Submitted by Ziqi Chen

Collage illustrating the beauty of fluid flows. Submitted by Merinda Hansen-Kemp

Collage illustrating the beauty of fluid flows. Submitted by Merinda Hansen-Kemp

Contemplating Bernoulli's principle over Arizona - submitted by Emily Maj

Contemplating Bernoulli’s principle over Arizona – submitted by Emily Maj

Wuxu Lake, China. Submitted by Zili Wang '15

Wuxu Lake, China – submitted by Zili Wang ’15

Waves in the water surface caused by vibration of the glass - submitted by Michael Ryan '15

Waves in the water surface caused by vibration of the glass – submitted by Michael Ryan ’15

its Turbulence (on the right) NOT turbidity (on the left) - submitted by Leikune Aragaw '15

its Turbulence (on the right) NOT turbidity (on the left) – submitted by Leikune Aragaw ’15

Waves in sheet flow down Sullivan Road - submitted by Andrew Burnett '15

Waves in sheet flow down Sullivan Road – submitted by Andrew Burnett ’15

Turbulent wake behind a leaf - submitted by Ashley Bohnenberger '15

Turbulent wake behind a leaf – submitted by Ashley Bohnenberger ’15


The Lehigh River joins the Delaware in Easton. Flow accelerates smoothly over the dam and then there is a hydraulic jump at the bottom - submitted by Jake Dein 2012

Turbulent wake behind a plunging bottle cap - submitted by Ekrem Bermek 2012

Swirling patterns in condensation droplets on a window - very cool! - submitted by Kelsey Lantz 2013

Bubbling mudpots in NZ geothermal springs. Bubbles burst when the force of the expanding gas exceeds the surface tension in the bubble - submitted by Matt Zwingraff 2011

Effects of wind and surface tension on spray from a water fountain - is this cool or what?! - submitted by Janka Lovering 2013

Dendritic patterns in sand at the beach (DB)

Water streams from flukes of a humpback whale at Stellwagon Bank - the bumps along the trailing edge reduce drag (DB)

Sheetflow Waves by Sullivan Deck – .mov file
Sheetflow of runoff along a paved surface organizes into rolling waves – submitted by Rowan Jones 2013

Evidence of the force of flowing water - note this picture is similar to some of the examples we analyzed in class. This is the Loyalsock River near Montoursville PA following Hurricane Lee, when much of the Sussquehanna River watershed experienced record flooding. Pic submitted by Jason Marshalek, 2013

Cascading waterfalls at Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia. The lakes are famous for their distinctive colors which change constantly depending on the quantity of minerals or organisms in the water and the angle of sunlight. The blue tint of water is an inherent property caused by absorption and scattering of white light. The color may also be a result of dissolved or suspended impurities in the water (submitted by Becky Rolwood)

Walden Pond, perhaps the world’s most famous example of a kettle pond, left by retreating glaciers. Water is still remarkably clear since there is very little surfacewater inflow (submitted by Kathy Delsener)

Hot air balloon over College Hill. For buoyancy to push something up in the air, the balloon has to be lighter than an equal volume of air around it. Warmer air rises in cooler air. Hot air is lighter than cool air because it has less mass/volume (submitted by Chris Luna)


wavessheetflow. Runoff heading down Sullivan Road, Sept 18, during 3-inch rain event. Sheet flow down a steep slope will show these roll waves, due to surface instabilities (the surface flow is faster than the flow beneath, and is not damped enough by shear to travel with the fluid below) that grow until a wave is formed.