Dan Zimmerman has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). He says:
I’m a Ph.D. student in Physics at the University of Maryland, working in Dan Lathrop’s nonlinear dynamics lab. We designed and built a three meter diameter, rapidly rotating fluid flow apparatus geometrically similar to Earth’s core, in the hope of observing a self-organizing magnetic dynamo in the lab. The dynamo process, generation of magnetic fields from the motion of conducting fluid, is thought to be responsible for the magnetic field of Earth, the Sun, and other astrophysical objects. My Ph.D. work focused on purely hydrodynamic rotating turbulence using water as the working fluid. Later this year, we hope to fill the device with more than 13,000kg of metallic sodium and begin magnetohydrodynamic experiments. In the interim, we will ensure that it is dried very, very thoroughly..
Dan Zimmerman, LFHCfS
Nonlinear Dynamics Lab
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland, USA
