Trippy liquid ‘fireworks’ appear when scientists try to mix unmixable fluids
These mysterious “fireworks” do not illuminate the night sky – these are computer simulations of a recent paper On the mixture of liquids that do not want to mix.
The researchers have mapped how two non -miscible fluids (two fluids that do not mix, such as oil and water) with different viscosities can create “fingers” when they interact. They created different models by alternately injecting fluids at the center of each “fireworks”, allowing fluids to spread.
The study of this phenomenon is important for storing the carbon of the atmosphere in the soil, a strategy to combat climate change. Carbon dioxide is responsible for 80% of all heating from greenhouse gases caused by humans Since 1990. It is possible to eliminate large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but it still has to go somewhere. Storing it in the ground is an option – and understanding fluid interactions can help us understand how to proceed.
In this case, the word “fluid” can refer both to gases and liquids, including gas carbon dioxide. Viscosity is a measure of the ease with which a fluid moves. Fluids with high viscosity move slowly, such as molasses or tar, while low viscosity fluids move faster and can spread more, like water or air.
Fluid “fireworks” are caused by Saffman-Taylor instability – A phenomenon that occurs when two non -miscible fluids with different viscosities are confined in a small space. When a less viscous liquid is added to the system, there are not many places to go, so it grows instead against the thicker fluid – forming the distinctive patterns.
If you have already put a drop of glue between two flat surfaces, then changed your mind and separated them, you may have noticed that the wet glue forming strange ridges and canals. This is the instability of Saffman-Taylor in action. When you separated the pieces, Air tried to go where the most viscous glue was and left these patterns.
In relation: Why does almost all of life breathe oxygen?
The storage of carbon dioxide in the soil is to “inject” carbon dioxide in a more viscous liquid (water) in spaces confined underground, leading to the instability of Saffman-Taylor. The “fireworks” of the paper Show that the number and extent of the fingers can be modified depending on the moment and how the fluid is injected into the system. The increase in the fingering effect helps prevent gas from escaping into the atmosphere.
People around the world are already working on carbon sequestration projects (storage) – from 2024, there were 50 operating installations, 44 under construction and an additional 534 in development according to the CCS Global Institute (Carbon capture and storage). The development of this technology gives us more tools to brake the global heating caused by the presence of too much carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere.
