Flow dynamics of droplets expelled during sneezing

Prateek Bahl1, Charitha de Silva1, C Raina MacIntyre2

  • 1School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, UNSW Sydney, Kensington NSW 2052, Australia.

Physics of Fluids (Woodbury, N.Y. : 1994)
|November 22, 2021
PubMed

Related Concept Videos

Excess Pressure Inside a Drop and a Bubble01:13

Excess Pressure Inside a Drop and a Bubble

The shape of a small drop of liquid can be considered spherical, neglecting the effect of gravity. This drop can further be considered as two equal hemispherical drops put together due to surface tension. The forces acting on the spherical drop are due to the pressure of the liquid inside the drop, the pressure due to air outside the drop, and the force due to the surface tension acting on the two hemispherical drops.
2.4K
Suctioning the Nasopharyngeal Airway01:29

Suctioning the Nasopharyngeal Airway

Nasopharyngeal suctioning is a procedure to remove secretions from the upper part of the respiratory tract that the patient cannot clear independently. It helps maintain airway patency and prevents complications such as aspiration pneumonia.
Equipment Required
1.3K
Design Example: Flow Through a Fire Extinguisher01:12

Design Example: Flow Through a Fire Extinguisher

A fire extinguisher that uses pressurized water relies on fluid dynamics principles to generate a high-velocity stream capable of suppressing flames. The water is stored at a much higher pressure inside the extinguisher than the surrounding atmosphere. This pressure difference forces the water to flow rapidly when the extinguisher is activated, and the behavior of the water as it exits the nozzle can be understood using fundamental equations of fluid dynamics.
The key to understanding how the...
237
Pulmonary Cycle: Exhalation01:17

Pulmonary Cycle: Exhalation

In terms of human respiration, the act of expelling air, known as exhalation (or expiration), operates on the principle of pressure gradients. During expiration, the pressure within the lungs exceeds that of the surrounding atmosphere. Under normal conditions, quiet breathing involves passive exhalation and is free of muscular contractions. This is because the exhalation process is driven by the natural elastic recoil of the lungs and chest wall, both of which have an inherent tendency to...
2.0K
Viscosity01:17

Viscosity

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.
The SI unit of viscosity is...
6.4K
Behavior of Gas Molecules: Molecular Diffusion, Mean Free Path, and Effusion03:48

Behavior of Gas Molecules: Molecular Diffusion, Mean Free Path, and Effusion

Although gaseous molecules travel at tremendous speeds (hundreds of meters per second), they collide with other gaseous molecules and travel in many different directions before reaching the desired target. At room temperature, a gaseous molecule will experience billions of collisions per second. The mean free path is the average distance a molecule travels between collisions. The mean free path increases with decreasing pressure; in general, the mean free path for a gaseous molecule will be...
29.9K