Could the Coandă effect be called the Young effect? The understanding of fluid dynamics of a legendary polymath
Abstract
We discuss a brief part of a famous paper on sound and light written by Thomas Young in 1800. We show that the proverbial intuition of this famous polymath leads to the discussion of several important and complex fluid dynamics phenomena regarding the behaviour of streams of air. In particular, we show that Young had already explained the adhesion of jets of air to curved surfaces known today as the Coandă effect. This historical anecdote can be used in a didactic context to weave an interesting web between several crucial names in the history of aerodynamics.
- Publication:
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European Journal of Physics
- Pub Date:
- March 2012
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0143-0807/33/2/253
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1103.6097
- Bibcode:
- 2012EJPh...33..253L
- Keywords:
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- Physics - History and Philosophy of Physics;
- Physics - Physics Education;
- Physics - Fluid Dynamics
- E-Print:
- 21 pages, 3 figures, regular paper