If, after making a cup of tea you're in the mood to see an illustration of aerodynamics, rather than tossing your tea spoon in the sink for someone else to wash up, place the back of the tea spoon in the edge of a running tap.You'll see that the water deflects from the vertical and runs over the back of the spoon. The spoon pulls towards, and is attracted by, the water flow.
If you then reverse the spoon you'll see that it actually pushes the water away from the vertical. Both demonstrations provides five seconds of wonder while at the same time handily serving to wash your spoon.
The phenomenon is called the Coandă effect, named after a Romanian tea drinker who was the first person to identify it. The application has been used in both planes and air conditioning systems. To learn more click here
* Thanks to Mark for providing a demonstration of this at Patrick's party!
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