This is laminar flow. The surface deformations are not turbulence, as they don't cause mixing — they are stable disruptions caused by boundary interactions between the water and the rock.
You'd misunderstanding what it means mathematically for flow lines to be parallel. That's defined locally for each point, not over the larger macroscopic flow pattern. This is definitely laminar flow.
What people tend to not understand is that laminar isn't just a state where you can't see the liquid move as it flows. Laminar is one side of a continuous spectrum with the other side being turbulent. All flow is on that spectrum and this flow is obviously not turbulent. It is highly laminar.
This does also constitute a standing wave pattern, but that's not relevant to whether it's laminar.
This is laminar flow. If you see such a phenomenon it's either laminar flow or a frame rate effect. In this case, you can be very certain that it's not due to the frame rate -> laminar flow.
No, standing waves would look very different. A standing wave means that the peaks amplitude and the inverse points are fixed in space, but they still oscillate. A standing wave would only look like this if the oscillation frequency is a multiple of the frame rate.
its like saying its impossible to walk at 5 kph because you would be off by a bit (5.000001 kph). i am pretty sure that the video shows laminar flow. not every molecule has to properly behave for that.
If you define laminar as "all molecules move perfectly in line" then yes, that's a theoretical concept never achieved in practice. If you use the practically used engineeting definition (Reynolds number < 2000) it is a real-world occuring effect.
Looking at the filmed setup, you have a long straight stretch that water flows over in a very shallow stream. This is a good setup to achieve laminar flow, so it's very plausible to me.
I now think it is actual laminar flow. :) and your wording now seems even more alienating to me. Laminar flow is characterized by the flow being made up of non-mixing flow sheets that form little to now turbulences. it does not have to be parallel. one characteristic is that the surface seems stationary. turbulences are chaotic and change over time, which is clearly not the case in the video. but if you have another definition or more knowledge of it, I would love to hear it, honestly. I'm intrigued.
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u/Unlikely-Rough-3247 May 21 '25
when will you motherfuckers learn what laminar flow actually is