“Ever notice how cereal clumps up in your bowl, or how cereal sticks to the edges of the bowl? Bubbles in beverages do the same thing. You’ve probably seen this surface tension and buoyancy at work, but did you know there’s some mind-blowing science behind it? What we learn in our cereal bowl even connects to the lives of tiny insects that walk on water.”
Joe Hanson of PBS Digital Studios’ Be Smart YouTube channel explains The Cheerios Effect, a phenomenon in fluid mechanics that you can explore the next time you’re eating cereal. Related reading: Meniscus.
Watch these related videos next on TKSST:
• Seven surface tension experiments
• Stroke Of The Water Strider
• The incredible physics of ants and ant rafts
• Nature’s Scuba Divers: How Beetles Breathe Underwater
• Anolis aquaticus, the scuba-diving lizard
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