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:

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections

Young adults drive historic decline in smoking

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development

This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack

FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects

A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions

AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer's disease and identify a therapeutic candidate

Coalition of Autism Scientists critiques US Department of Health and Human Services Autism Research Initiative

Structure dictates effectiveness, safety in nanomedicine

Mission accomplished for the “T2T” Hong Kong Bauhinia Genome Project

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