But not the electric kind.

I’m of course referring to those other beloved shocks, rapidly steepening non-linear wave profiles; shock waves!

The video below is one of my favorite examples from a recent competition to document fascinating examples of fluid behaviour. The formation of aerodynamically stable jets by particles caught up in an expanding shock wave is a common feature of explosive dispersals, but is not understood very well. This video, prepared by a group from McGill University, sheds some light on the matter by demonstrating how the formation of those jets varies as a function of the particle properties.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78l4cU5F2YE]

Courtesy of the American Institute of Physics’ Gallery of Fluid Motion.

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