http://physics.aps.org/articles/v6/38

Focus: Dripping Honey Explained
Published April 1, 2013  |  Physics 6, 38 (2013)  |  DOI:
10.1103/Physics.6.38

New theory and experiments explain why the lengthy strands that dangle from
a spoon of honey can get so long without breaking up.
Delayed Capillary Breakup of Falling Viscous
Jets<http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.144501>

A. Javadi, J. Eggers, D. Bonn, M. Habibi, and N. M. Ribe
Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 144501
(2013)<http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.144501>
Published April 1, 2013
+Enlarge image<http://physics.aps.org/articles/large_image/f1/10.1103/Physics.6.38>
iStockphoto.com/pg_cata<http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-3017503-honey.php>

*A sweet mystery.* Standard fluid theory cannot explain why this strand of
honey can grow so long without breaking up, but experiments with silicone
oil along with new theoretical work explain the stringy behavior.

Spooning soft honey from a jar generates long, dangling threads of the
liquid, but researchers have not understood why columns of a viscous fluid
get so long without breaking up. In Physical Review Letters, a team
explains the mystery using a combination of theory and experiments with
dripping silicone oil. They found that while viscosity doesn’t affect the
large-scale motion of the falling liquid very much—consistent with previous
theories—it does affect the way that small, random waves in the fluid
become amplified over time, which leads to breakup. The results may be
relevant for industrial processes that involve pulling long strands of
viscous fluid, such as the fabrication of optical fibers.

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