Multimedia Gallery
All images in this series
'Blue whirl' with soot in the middle
A slightly unstable "blue whirl" with soot in the middle, suggesting a bubble mode of vortex breakdown. Researchers have identified how blue whirls -- a form of fire whirl first discovered in 2016 that burns with a blue color and is nearly soot-free -- are structured.
This research was supported through a U.S. National Science Foundation Early-Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (grant CBET 1507623).
Learn more in the NSF Research News story UMD researchers identify structure of 'blue whirls'. (Date image taken: 2016; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: Oct. 7, 2020)
Credit: Sriram Bharath Hariharan
Images and other media in the National Science Foundation Multimedia Gallery are available for use in print and electronic material by NSF employees, members of the media, university staff, teachers and the general public. All media in the gallery are intended for personal, educational and nonprofit/non-commercial use only.
Images credited to the National Science Foundation, a federal agency, are in the public domain. The images were created by employees of the United States Government as part of their official duties or prepared by contractors as "works for hire" for NSF. You may freely use NSF-credited images and, at your discretion, credit NSF with a "Courtesy: National Science Foundation" notation.
Additional information about general usage can be found in Conditions.
Also Available:
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (139.3 KB)
Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.