PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

A celebration of a Persian mystic leads to better understanding of dynamics

2013-11-27
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Lynn Nystrom
tansy@vt.edu
540-231-4371
Virginia Tech
A celebration of a Persian mystic leads to better understanding of dynamics

James Hanna likes to have fun with his engineering views of physics.

So when he and his colleague Jemal Guven visited their friend Martin Michael Müller in France on a rainy, dreary day, the three intellects decided to stay in. Guven, absent-mindedly switching between channels on the television, stumbled upon a documentary on whirling dervishes, best described as a Sufi religious order, who commemorate the teachings of 13th century Persian mystic and poet Rumi through spinning at a fixed speed in their floor length skirts.

"Their skirts showed these very striking, long-lived patterns," Hanna, the engineer, recalled.

The film caused physicists Guven and Müller to think about structures with conical symmetry, or those shapes that can be defined as a series of straight lines emanating from a single point. By contrast, Hanna, the engineer with a physicist's background, thought about rotating flexible structures, namely strings or sheets.

The three put their thoughts together and the whirling dervishes became the inspiration for a technical paper appearing in the Nov. 27 of the New Journal of Physics, published by the Institute of Physics and the German Physical Society. They gave their work the slightly bemusing title of "Whirling skirts and rotating cones."

The three authors reflect an international collaboration. Hanna is on the faculty of Virginia Tech's Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, while Guven hails from the nuclear sciences institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and Müller is part of the BioPhysStat research group at the University of Lorraine, France.

In terms of the impact of their work, it widens the scientist's understanding of the dynamics of flexible objects and of pattern formation in rotating systems. They may also "shed some light on the previously known instabilities of turbine disks and hard disks," Hanna said.

"Rotating systems often break axisymmetry. Were it not so, there would be no hurricanes," Hanna explained. "There are steadier examples. The skirts of the whirling dervish carry cusped wave patterns which seem to defy gravity and common sense." A YouTube video of the Whirling Dervishes in action can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_Cf-ZxDfZA

Watching the swirling skirts, the three linked their patterns to the presence of the Coriolis force, the reason why objects deflect on the Earth. They realized the Coriolis force was essential in the creation of the different patterns, and were subsequently able to develop a set of mathematical equations that govern how fixed or free-flowing cone-shaped structures behave when rotating.

According to the Institute of Physics, the simple equations the three developed were able to reproduce the sharp peaks and gentle troughs that appear along the flowing surface of the dervishes' skirts.

The three are presenting their findings this week at the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society of Fluid Dynamics. http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD13/Session/R14.8

Hanna joined Virginia Tech in the fall of 2013 after working for three and a half years as a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Physics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has focused on the dynamics of strings and other flexible bodies, and the design of thin sheet structures by inhomogeneous swelling and buckling.



INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Shortage of rheumatologists -- In some US regions closest doctor may be 200 miles away

2013-11-27
Shortage of rheumatologists -- In some US regions closest doctor may be 200 miles away A novel study published in the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) journal, Arthritis & Rheumatism, shows that smaller micropolitan areas of the U.S.—those with less than 50,000 people—have ...

Negative BRCA testing may not always imply lowered breast cancer risk

2013-11-27
Negative BRCA testing may not always imply lowered breast cancer risk PHILADELPHIA — Women who are members of families with BRCA2 mutations but who test negative for the family-specific BRCA2 mutations are still at greater risk for developing ...

2-way traffic enables proteins to get where needed, avoid disease

2013-11-26
2-way traffic enables proteins to get where needed, avoid disease Augusta, Ga. - It turns out that your messenger RNA may catch more than one ride to get where it's going. Scientists have found that mRNA may travel one way down a cell, ...

When the living and the deceased don't agree on organ donation

2013-11-26
When the living and the deceased don't agree on organ donation All 50 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the 2006 Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) or enacted similar legislation giving individuals the "First Person Authorization" ...

Lowering stand density reduces mortality of ponderosa pine stands

2013-11-26
Lowering stand density reduces mortality of ponderosa pine stands REDDING, Calif.—As trees grow larger in even-aged stands, competition develops among them. Competition weakens trees, as they contend for soil moisture, ...

Electronic cigarettes: New route to smoking addiction for adolescents

2013-11-26
Electronic cigarettes: New route to smoking addiction for adolescents E-cigarettes have been widely promoted as a way for people to quit smoking conventional cigarettes. Now, in the first study of its kind, UC San Francisco researchers ...

Unhappy meals? Majority of very young children in California eat fast food at least once a week

2013-11-26
Unhappy meals? Majority of very young children in California eat fast food at least once a week A surprisingly large percentage of very young children in California, including 70 percent of Latino children, eat fast food regularly, according to ...

Polymer gel, heal thyself: University of Pittsburgh engineering team proposes new composites that can regenerate when damaged

2013-11-26
Polymer gel, heal thyself: University of Pittsburgh engineering team proposes new composites that can regenerate when damaged PITTSBURGH (November 25, 2013) … When a chair leg breaks or a cell phone shatters, either must be repaired or replaced. But what if these materials ...

Large study shows pollution impact on coral reefs -- and offers solution

2013-11-26
Large study shows pollution impact on coral reefs -- and offers solution CORVALLIS, Ore. – One of the largest and longest experiments ever done to test the impact of nutrient loading on coral reefs today confirmed what scientists have long ...

ADHD linked to social and economic disadvantage

2013-11-26
ADHD linked to social and economic disadvantage Scientists have found evidence of a link between social and economic status and childhood attention deficit disorder in the UK Scientists have found evidence of a link between social and economic status and ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Exercise as an anti-ageing intervention to avoid detrimental impact of mental fatigue

UMass Amherst Nursing Professor Emerita honored as ‘Living Legend’

New guidelines aim to improve cystic fibrosis screening

Picky eaters by day, buffet by night: Butterfly, moth diets sync to plant aromas

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Leanne Redman honored with the E. V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition

CCNY physicists uncover electronic interactions mediated via spin waves

Researchers’ 3D-printing formula may transform future of foam

Nurture more important than nature for robotic hand

Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for one-two knockout punch

New study finds that over 95% of sponsored influencer posts on Twitter were not disclosed

New sea grant report helps great lakes fish farmers navigate aquaculture regulations

Strain “trick” improves perovskite solar cells’ efficiency

How GPS helps older drivers stay on the roads

Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids

Dancing with the cells – how acoustically levitating a diamond led to a breakthrough in biotech automation

Machine learning helps construct an evolutionary timeline of bacteria

Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed... offering new therapeutic options

Animal behavioral diversity at risk in the face of declining biodiversity

Finding their way: GPS ignites independence in older adult drivers

Antibiotic resistance among key bacterial species plateaus over time

‘Some insects are declining but what’s happening to the other 99%?’

Powerful new software platform could reshape biomedical research by making data analysis more accessible

Revealing capillaries and cells in living organs with ultrasound

American College of Physicians awards $260,000 in grants to address equity challenges in obesity care

Researchers from MARE ULisboa discover that the European catfish, an invasive species in Portugal, has a prolonged breeding season, enhancing its invasive potential

Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, FAACR, honored with the 2025 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research

Solar cells made of moon dust could power future space exploration

Deporting immigrants may further shrink the health care workforce

Border region emergency medical services in migrant emergency care

Resident physician intentions regarding unionization

[Press-News.org] A celebration of a Persian mystic leads to better understanding of dynamics