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June 18, 2012

Smoke rings? I raise you Extraordinary Toroidal Vortices.

Nature? Wow. Or in layman’s terms, Extraordinary Toroidal Vortices:

Extraordinary and beautiful examples of toroidal vortices produced by dolphins, beluga whales, humpback whales, volcanoes, hydrogen bombs, and man.

A toroidal vortex, also called a vortex ring, is a region of rotating fluid moving through the same or different fluid where the flow pattern takes on a toroidal (doughnut) shape. The movement of the fluid is about the poloidal or circular axis of the doughnut, in a twisting vortex motion. Examples of this phenomenon are a smoke ring or a microburst. Vortex rings were first mathematically analysed by the German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz, in his paper of 1867 On Integrals of the Hydrodynamical Equations which Express Vortex-motion Smoke rings have probably been observed since antiquity since they can easily be blown from the mouth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_ring

***Toroidal animation that appears at the beginning and end (and the ‘fibration’ animation at 2:55) were created by Paul Nylander (http://bugman123.com/)

***The 17 second clip of the humpback whale bubble rings shown from 1:56 to2:13 is from danthewhaleman (The Whale Video Company).***

http://www.youtube.com/user/danthewhaleman
http://www.whalevideo.com

Music: “Beautiful Being” by Eastern Sun

Dolphin footage originally uploaded by:
http://www.youtube.com/user/chiajungchi

Etna smoke rings originally uploaded by:
http://www.youtube.com/user/icampabadals

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

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