A bottlenose

dolphin
(Tursiops
truncates)
blowing a series
of bubble rings
underwater.

Dolphins little bubble-bursting game is a nifty underwater feat of physics

Photo credit: Kenichi Aihara

(through practice) from our mouth by

cigarette smoke except that obviously it
would not be underwater. (A little note: All the
cool kids are doing it.) Meanwhile, the giant
volcano of Mount Etna, the tallest active
volcano in Europe, was also observed to be
forming large smoke rings measuring up to
50 meters in diameter (Tomlinson, 2014).

What do dolphins, us, and an

erupting volcanoes have in
common?
Dolphins and humans may both be
mammals, but neither is a steam of hot lava and
gases. So, what is it? The answer is: all three can
make vortex rings.

Its Role in Many Other Processes

A vortex ring is a phenomenon where

Vortex Rings are Doughnut-Shaped Rings

Dolphins and other cetaceans such as
whales, and porpoises, are marine mammals that
have been observed making bubble rings with
their blowhole as their own little underwater
game. These bubble rings are scientifically
termed as vortex rings, and can too be made

fluids or gases knot and spin in a closed,

usually circular loop around an imaginary
axis line. Tornado stability, volcanic
eruptions, mushroom clouds, as well as the
blood discharge going out of the left atrium
to the left ventricular cavity in the human
heart, revolves around the same physics of
vortex rings (Gharib, et al., 1998).

Bursting the Bubble

A nearlyspherical
bubble comes
out from the
blow-hole of a
dolphin

The higher pressure at the

bottom of the bubble
pushes the bubble's bottom
surface up faster than the
top surface rises creating a
trail of fluid jet

Fluid jet puncturing

the bubble

Bubble ring is formed

As the bubble ring rises, the ring

expands due to decreasing
water pressure

Photo credit: Own illustration

Photo credit: Chris Weber

Photo credit: George Lucey Jr. & Dr. D. Lyon

Image 1: Smoke ring seen from Mount Etna, Italy

Image 2: Spark photography image of a vortex ring in flight

2

By flicking the tip of their

dorsal fin, this dolphin
expels air from its
blowhole, forming a torus
or ring-like form of
bubble, causing a rapid
acceleration of a small
mass of water. These
toroidal vortices are
formed by the drag at
the outer edges of the
fast-flowing packet of
surrounding
water,
slowing down the flow
relative to the center.

Direction of travel
Direction of rotation

Photo credit: PBS.org

Smoke Rings from Volcanoes

Vortex rings from a

The round shape of the smoke

ring is formed because the air
that occupies the center of the
ring is forced out with a higher
velocity.

volcano eruption is a rare

phenomenon. It requires:

1. A particular geometric
configuration of a circular vent
exit

2. Correct
velocity for
individual puff
of gas
expulsion

So far smoke rings has made its

appearance at two mountains:
1. Mt. Etna
2. Mt. Stromboli

Formation of smoke
ring from volcanoes
are similar to how
smokers make smoke
rings with their
mouths - the volcano
has a deep crater pit
with circular vertical
walls like a chimney.

CHRIS WEBER, Volcanologist

Photo credit: Own illustration

Image 3: Vortex ring in a Newtonian fluid

Vortex Ring in a Non-Newtonian The vortex in Newtonian fluid

travels downward and after
Viscoelastic Fluid

Despite having the same

value of Reynolds number, the
flow of vortex ring in a viscoelastic
fluid is different from the one in a
Newtonian fluid, where viscous
stress is linearly proportional to
deformation.

sometime, it diffuses. On the

other hand, the vortex ring in
the viscoelastic fluid which
reacts
non-linearly
to
deformation starts off looking
like a mushroom. Fascinatingly,
it expands as it drops and
contracts as it is pulled up.

Both vortex rings were

generated by the same
piston-cylinder apparatus,
same stroke ratio ending
to the same relative
position to the cylinder
exit, also both have the
Reynolds number = 500.

Image 4: Vortex ring in a Non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluid (sequence from left to right) Photo credit: J. Albagnac, D. Laupsien and D. Anne-Archard

Velocity for Propagation of a Vortex Ring: Phillip Saffmans Findings

assuming a hollow
core
= vortex ring
circulation
R = ring radius
a = core radius of
ring
v = kinematic
viscosity of fluid
T = stroke time
= constant

In an inviscid fluid:

In a viscous fluid,

Image 5: (a) Sketch of a vortex ring with core radius

a, ring radius R, and bubble radius Rb. denotes ratio
of semi-minor to semi-major axes. (b) Photograph of
the ring passing through a tracer. Vortex ring can be
seen clearly as the darkest vertical visual in the
middle. Direction of flow: horizontal to the left.
Photo credit: Ian Sullivan et. al.

Absolem, a
character from
Alice in
Wonderland
making smoke
rings from
smoking a
waterpipe
(hookah).

Photo credit: Google Images

The Ongoing Research

When researches at Massachusetts

Institute of Technology witnessed an
unusual long-lived wave traveling much more
slowly than expected through a gas of cold
atoms, they called it heavy solitons and goes
on to further claim that it defied theoretical
description.

Physicists, Aurel Bulgac and Michael Forbes,

from University of Washington then performs
one of the largest supercomputing (through
the means of two supercomputers, Titan and
Hyak) and later found that the heavy solitons
are likely vortex rings. This enabled them to
demonstrate a simulation that explains the
MITs discovery by the concept of vortex
rings.
More importantly, the simulation used could
revolutionize how we solve certain physics
problems in the future. This means that there
is a potential that nuclear tests need not to be
performed in order to study nuclear reactions.
Other than that, it could also be beneficial for
comprehension of neutron stars behaviors, for
example, the rapid increase in its pulsation
frequency which is probably caused by inner
star vortex interactions. The certainty of this
is still under active research, an it is one with
much hope.

Albagnac, J., Laupsien, D. & Anne-Archard, D., 2014. Gallery of

Fluid Motion. [Online]
Available at: http://gfm.aps.org/meetings/dfd2014/54081b0c69702d0771020200
[Accessed 21 April 2015].
Gharib, M., Rambod, E. & Shariff, K., 1998. A universal time scale
for vortex ring formation. J. Fluid Mech., Volume 360, pp. 121140.
Kelley, P., 2013. Solving a physics mystery: Those solitons are
really vortex rings. [Online]
Available at: http://www.washington.edu/news/2014/02/03/solvinga-physics-mystery-those-solitons-are-really-vortex-rings/
[Accessed 21 April 2015].
McCowan, B. et al., 2000. Bubble Ring Play of Bottlenose
Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus): Implications for Cognition. Journal
of Comparative Psychology, Volume 114(1), pp. 98-106.
Sullivan, I. et al., 2008. Dynamics of thin vortex rings. J. Fluid
Mech., Volume 609, pp. 319-347.
Tomlinson, S., 2014. Meet the Gandalf of volcanoes: Incredible
moment Mount Etna puffs out perfectly formed 50-METRE smoke
rings. [Online]
Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article2566812/Incredible-moment-Mount-Etna-puffs-perfectly-formed50-METRE-smoke-rings-blue-sky-coast-Sicily.html
[Accessed 20 April 2015].
Volcano Discovery, N.A.. Volcano Photoglossary: Smoke Rings.
[Online]
Available at:
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/photoglossary/smoke_ring.html
[Accessed 20 April 2015].