Wake vortex! An invisible but universal phenomena, huge wingtip vortices can be seen in the twisting fog as this airplane lands in Zurich, Switzerland. Wingtip vortices are strong spirals of air that are created when high pressure air below the wing spills up around the top of the wing, a relatively lower air pressure space, making a small horizontal tornado.
Read more about wingtip vortices and vortex drag at howthingsfly.si.edu.
Then watch more videos about vortices on TKSST, including:
• Wingtip vortices made visible with ribbons of white smoke
• How to make a Crazy Pool Vortex
• A vortex of bubbles twirls pufferfish
via Science Demo.
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