The Osborne Reynolds Experiment

This lab simply illustrates how fluid flow varies from laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow, and how this depends on the flow rate. A flow inside a pipe is used for this experiment.

Understanding these flow concepts is fundamental to fluid dynamics...the only trouble is that fluids can be hard to see!

To overcome this, a blue die jet of water is added into the rest of the flow in a pipe.

At low flow rates (low 'Reynolds Number') we see a laminar flow where the line of die is unbroken.

Students then study how this breaks down and mixes due to turbulence, once the flow rate increases (high 'Reynolds Number').

For this lab, just seeing the flow for themselves is enough to learn the key points, and so this is very relaxed and 'easy' exercise for students.

No scary maths. Plenty of intuitive learning :)