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Chaos stalks the kitchen

Nature (2000)Cite this article

Beware: a dripping tap has a memory and a tendency to chaotic behaviour.

A dripping tap (faucet) may look prosaic to a plumber but to a physicist it is a kitchen-sized dose of chaos. Now a team of from Purdue University, Indiana, explains why the pattern of drips varies unexpectedly between simple and more complex regularity as the flow rate increases.

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References

  1. Ambravaneswaran,B., Phillips, S. D. & Basaran, O. A. Theoretical analysis of a dripping faucet. Physical Review Letters 85, 5332 - 5335 2000.

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  1. Philip Ball
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Ball, P. Chaos stalks the kitchen. Nature (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/news001228-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/news001228-2

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