How Tiny Bubbles Can Destroy Metal

How can a bubble damage solid metal? Cavitation begins when low pressure lets a liquid form vapor. When that cavity collapses, the surrounding liquid can concentrate its motion into pressure waves and narrow jets. Repeated events can leave a metal surface pitted and rough. Follow the mechanism through a ship propeller, a pump, rocket-system research and the remarkable claw of a snapping shrimp. Original animations show what happens too quickly for our eyes to follow. The mechanisms are simplified and slowed for explanation. 00:00 Bubbles versus metal 00:52 How cool water forms vapor 02:12 The collapse 03:13 Why a nearby wall changes everything 04:59 Propellers and pumps 06:05 The rocket connection 06:53 The snapping shrimp 07:55 Putting cavitation to work 08:39 Where the energy comes from Gameplay: Cyber Corgi Research sources: Caltech, Cavitation and Bubble Dynamics: https://media.library.caltech.edu/Cal... NASA pump research: https://www.nasa.gov/rocket-systems-a... Snapping shrimp fluid mechanics: https://www.nature.com/articles/s4159... Controlled cavitation: https://arxiv.org/abs/1210.4016