Flying Slither

Let's take a look!

What type of experiment is this?

Experimental procedure and explanation:

• A toy with a strange shape “Slither” was designed. A Styrofoam sphere (hollow, diameter = 10 cm) and eight smaller spheres (diameter = 3 cm) were connected with a thread. In “Slither” published in December 2016, we took it out of a cylinder using the wind of a dryer; in this experiment, we will float it.
• Place the slither in the left cylinder. Blow it from below at an angle with a hair dryer to make it float. If you blow it well, you can make it float stably because the small spheres of the tail serve as a weight and improve stability.
• Slowly move the slither and put it in the right cylinder.
• The slither floats at an angle because of the same reason as that explained in “A Balloon that Floats at an Angle (Sequel).” Three forces—lift, air resistance (drag), and gravity—caused by the flow bending along the large sphere are balanced.

[Keywords]	Coandă effect, Momentum theory
[Related items]	A Balloon that Floats at an Angle (Sequel), Slither
[Reference]	The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers Edition “The Wonders of Flow,” Kodansha Bluebacks, P128－133.

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