A sprinkler that sucks water in instead of spewing it out rotates in the opposite direction as a normal sprinkler, physicists report. Viewing the innards of such a sprinkler was key to understanding why. Within the sprinkler, two jets form, visualized here by using lasers to illuminate microparticles added to the water. In this high-speed video, the water is sucked into the ends of the S-shaped tube (one end visible at top left) and enters the inside of the sprinkler (center) where two horizontal jets form. Those jets collide and emerge at an angle, creating four asymmetric vortices. The sprinkler was fixed in place for this video, but when released, it spins clockwise.
Read more: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/lawn-sprinklers-suck-water-physics
Video: Applied Math Lab/NYU
Watch what happens when fluid is sucked into a sprinkler | Science News
