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Related Concept Videos

Laminar and Turbulent Flow01:07

Laminar and Turbulent Flow

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Fluid dynamics is the study of fluids in motion. Velocity vectors are often used to illustrate fluid motion in applications like meteorology. For example, wind—the fluid motion of air in the atmosphere—can be represented by vectors indicating the speed and direction of the wind at any given point on a map. Another method for representing fluid motion is a streamline. A streamline represents the path of a small volume of fluid as it flows. When the flow pattern changes with time, the...
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Viscosity01:17

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When water is poured into a glass, it falls freely and quickly, whereas if honey or maple syrup is poured over a pancake, it flows slowly and sticks to the surface of the container. This difference in the flow of different kinds of liquids arises due to the fluid friction between the liquid layers and the liquid and the surrounding material. This property of fluids is called fluid viscosity. In this example, water has a lower viscosity than honey and maple syrup.
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Viscosity01:27

Viscosity

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Viscosity is a property of fluids that measures their resistance to flow. It is influenced by factors such as the surface area of contact, the gradient of flow speed, and the fluid's viscosity constant, called the coefficient of viscosity. The coefficient of viscosity, also known as dynamic viscosity, is denoted by the symbol η. It determines the proportionality between the viscous force and the gradient of flow speed.Newton's law of viscosity states that the viscous force on a...
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Surface Tension of Fluid01:22

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Surface tension is a fundamental property of fluids, occurring at the boundary between a liquid and a gas or between two immiscible liquids. This phenomenon arises from the cohesive forces between molecules at the fluid's surface, creating an effect similar to a stretched elastic membrane. Inside each fluid, molecules are equally attracted in all directions by neighboring molecules, but surface molecules experience a net inward force, resulting in surface tension.
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Eulerian and Lagrangian Flow Descriptions01:22

Eulerian and Lagrangian Flow Descriptions

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Fluid flow analysis is critical in many scientific and engineering disciplines, and two principal approaches are used to describe this flow: the Eulerian and Lagrangian methods. These methods offer different perspectives on monitoring and analyzing the motion of fluids, each with distinct advantages depending on the scenario.
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Couette Flow01:22

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Couette flow represents the flow of fluid between two parallel plates, with one plate fixed and the other moving with a constant velocity. This configuration allows for a simplified analysis using the Navier-Stokes equations, which govern fluid motion under conditions of viscosity and incompressibility. For Couette flow, the assumptions include a steady, laminar, incompressible flow with a zero-pressure gradient in the flow direction. This flow type is beneficial for understanding shear-driven...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 6, 2026

Separating Beads and Cells in Multi-channel Microfluidic Devices Using Dielectrophoresis and Laminar Flow
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Microfluidic sorting in an optical lattice.

M P MacDonald1, G C Spalding, K Dholakia

  • 1School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, UK. mpm4@st-and.ac.uk

Nature
|December 4, 2003
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed a novel optical sorter using a 3D optical lattice to precisely sort microscopic particles by size or refractive index. This non-invasive technique achieves high efficiency and throughput for biological and colloidal research applications.

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Area of Science:

  • Optics and Photonics
  • Microfluidics
  • Biotechnology

Background:

  • Optical fields can manipulate microscopic dielectric objects, enabling applications like optical traps.
  • Existing methods for particle manipulation and sorting have limitations in efficiency and throughput.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To demonstrate a novel optical sorter for microscopic particles.
  • To utilize a dynamically reconfigurable 3D optical lattice for particle sorting.
  • To achieve tunable selection criteria based on particle properties.

Main Methods:

  • Employing an extended, interlinked, dynamically reconfigurable 3D optical lattice.
  • Exploiting particle interaction with lattice sites, dependent on optical polarizability.
  • Demonstrating sorting of protein microcapsules by size and colloidal particles by refractive index.

Main Results:

  • Achieved sorting efficiency approaching 100%, with observed values of 96% or more.
  • Demonstrated sorting of protein microcapsule drug delivery agents by size.
  • Successfully sorted colloidal particles by refractive index.
  • Exceeded throughputs of fluorescence-activated cell sorting even in concentrated solutions.

Conclusions:

  • The developed optical sorter is a powerful, non-invasive technique for particle manipulation.
  • The method is suitable for sorting and fractionation in microfluidic systems.
  • Applications span colloidal, molecular, and biological research, offering high efficiency and throughput.