What is Viscous Fingering? 🧪

Welcome back to the Tommy Technetium channel and new science tricks. Learn to do a simple science experiment with glue, food dye, and detergent to create beautiful designs! We'll explore how the interplay between the surface tension and viscosity of various liquids can be used to generate fractals! It's called viscous fingering, and it creates marvelous pattern formations. This science experiment combines elements of math, physics and chemistry, but it is simple enough to do it at home. Enjoy your watching and stay tuned for more!

#fractal #science #chemistry #physics

[BenGray]

Scientists could have called it ANYTHING else, but they chose chaos.

[kmhaneul]

Math, chemistry, and physics having the same sense of humor

[gmonayk]

When the less viscous penetrates the more viscous…I love science.

[blinkybli]

My question is this: were the people who came up with the term "viscous fingering" entirely clueless, drunk or having a contest to see who could come up with the most obscene yet plausibly justifiable term imaginable?

[st.altair]

...Yeah we're gonna need a new name for this one

[ghostderazgriz]

The blue one is mesmerizing. The way the center gets isolated in some otherworldly slow-motion fractal implosion.

[theilluminatedone]

Viscous fingering, not to be confused with Vicious fingering.

[knightstorm]

"Viscous fingering"
Sighs opening comments

[Nao]

Math, Chemistry and Physics together creating a beautiful art

[Pixalated]

I came for the comments.

And they did not disappoint.

[edwardhunts]

I swear I'm in my 50's 😂 and the internet has just made my teenage brain giggle

[MartyMcFly]

Viscous fingering. An awesome demonstration of fractals. Once you start to pay attention, you notice that fractals are everywhere.

It is also the name I used to dance under when I really needed extra money.

[rubenjaimes]

Mom: So what did you learn at school today ?

Kid: fingering.

[lorraineknox]

Detergent is a modern substitute for ox gall used in marbling techniques. It's so pretty

[iusedthewiki]

High asf and I spent 20 minutes laughing about what i thought the comments were gonna be before I even opened tbem

[Jabberwocky]

Came for the fingering, stayed for the chemistry.

[mattybrunolucaszeneresalas]

I can honestly say after my own experience with fingering, that is exactly what it looks like afterwards.

[howdyfriends]

small correction: it occurs if the viscosity of the outer* fluid is more than 12x that of the inner* fluid. the glue has to be more viscous than the food dye, basically.

[michaelenglish]

"And that's how we named the band"

Look for the self-titled, debut album, _Viscous Fingering_ on Spotify Spring 2025

[BlessedhealthychefsASMR]

So basically if you have something with a high viscosity, place a drop of dye in it, then a drop of detergent; the detergent causes the dye to spread out. Absolutely mesmerizing 🤯