The Kaye effect**This article is a written version of the oral contribution of the German team to the 21st IYPT competition, which was awarded first prize by an international jury. The article has been edited by European Journal of Physics.

Abstract

The International Young Physicists' Tournament (IYPT) is a worldwide, annual competition for secondary school students. This is our solution to problem number 10, The Kaye effect, as presented in the final round of the 21st IYPT in Trogir, Croatia. The Kaye effect occurs when a thin stream of shampoo or a different adequate non-Newtonian liquid is poured onto a surface. Suddenly, a jet leaves the heap that is formed by the shampoo and begins to ‘dance’ around the primary jet like a lasso. The phenomenon ends when the ‘dancing’ jet hits the primary jet and subsequently collapses. We started our investigations based on available literature (Kaye 1963 Nature 197 1001, Versluis et al 2006 J. Stat. Mech., Collyer and Fischer 1976 Nature 261 682). We made experiments with a similar experimental set-up in which we could determine the velocities of both shampoo streams as well as the angle of the ‘dancing’ stream. From there on, we developed a theoretical model for the energy loss of the jet in the heap. We discovered that the air layer between the jet and the heap is a necessity for the Kaye effect to occur. At this point, our observations differ from the aforementioned literature. This also accounts for the shampoo beam acting as a light guide. Further experiments concerning the viscoelasticity of the shampoo revealed that the elastic property of the shampoo is necessary for the effect to occur.