# Boundary Layers and Drag: From No-Slip to the Drag Crisis

> Ideal flow theory says a body in a steady stream feels no drag at all, which is plainly false. This lecture repairs that, starting from the one experimental fact the ideal theory leaves out: at a solid surface a real fluid does not slide. From the no-slip condition it builds the boundary layer, watches it thicken along a flat plate, and splits the drag on a body into the friction part and the pressure part. It then puts a sphere in the flow, shows the adverse pressure gradient, the separation point and the wake, and explains the drag crisis: why a turbulent boundary layer separates later, narrows the wake and lowers the drag. It closes on the drag coefficient plotted against Reynolds number, read out loud including the sudden drop, and on why golf balls are covered in dimples.

- Canonical watch page: [Boundary Layers and Drag: From No-Slip to the Drag Crisis](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis)
- Publisher: [Academa, Inc.](https://academa.ai)
- Subject: Physics
- Published: 2026-08-28T22:51:45.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-28T22:51:45.000Z
- Duration: PT1320S (22 minutes)
- Chapters: 5
- Views: 1
- Language: en-US
- Access: Free
- Video stream: [HLS content](https://academa.ai/media/l/01M14TZQMRTCNQJ9ANFG3GJ8T3/0/dark/master.m3u8)
- Audiovisual record: [Semantic JSON](https://academa.ai/media/l/01M14TZQMRTCNQJ9ANFG3GJ8T3/0/semantic.json)
- Thumbnail: [Image](https://academa.ai/media/l/01M14TZQMRTCNQJ9ANFG3GJ8T3/0/dark/poster.jpg)

## Description

Why ideal flow predicts zero drag, how the boundary layer fixes it, and why separation and dimples decide a sphere's drag.

## Chapters

- [00:00–03:55.515 · The Drag That Bernoulli Cannot Find](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=0)
- [03:55.515–08:49.283 · The Wall, and the Layer It Makes](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=235.51485416666665)
- [08:49.283–12:14.705 · Two Kinds of Drag](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=529.2832500000001)
- [12:14.705–17:22.576 · Separation, and the Wake It Leaves](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=734.7050416666667)
- [17:22.576–22:00 · The Drag Crisis, and the Golf Ball](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1042.5762916666667)

## Transcript

### [00:00 · The Drag That Bernoulli Cannot Find](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=0)

Bernoulli's equation is one of the first genuinely powerful results you meet in fluid mechanics, and it is also the source of one of the first genuine crises of confidence. Apply it carefully to a body sitting in a steady stream, and it tells you, quite calmly, that the body feels no drag whatsoever. Not a little drag. None. Let me set that calculation up, because the reasoning inside it is good. Here is a cylinder seen end on, sitting in a stream that arrives from the left at speed U. The pale lines are streamlines, the paths the fluid follows as it goes past. The fluid in this calculation has no viscosity at all. Nothing sticks and nothing rubs. And with no viscosity the streamlines close up behind the body exactly as tidily as they opened in front of it. Cover half the picture, and you genuinely cannot tell which half you covered. So put Bernoulli to work along one of them. Pressure plus one half rho U squared is a constant, so where the fluid speeds up the pressure falls, and where it slows down the pressure rises. Right at the nose the fluid is brought completely to rest, so the pressure there is as high as it gets. Over the shoulders it has to hurry to get around, so the pressure there drops. And then at the tail the fluid slows to a stop a second time, and the pressure climbs back to exactly the value it had at the front. Which means every push on the front is matched by an equal push on the back. Add the pressure up over the whole surface, and the total along the flow is zero. That is d'Alembert's paradox, and it is not an algebra slip. It is what the ideal theory honestly says. Here is the same body in real air, put beside the prediction. Same shape, same speed. And the flow gets around the front perfectly happily. Then, somewhere near the widest part of the body, it lets go of the surface completely. Those two red lines mark where it leaves. Behind them sits a broad, churning region of slow, disorganised fluid, and that region is called the wake. And now the symmetry is gone. At the nose the pressure is still high, because the fluid is still being stopped there. But at the back it never recovers, because nothing back there slows down in the orderly way the ideal picture assumed. It stays low. You can read that straight off the two pictures. On the left there are two high marks, one at each end, and they cancel each other exactly. On the right there is a high mark at the front and a low one at the back, and nothing cancels anything. High pressure on the front, low pressure on the back, and the difference is a net backward force. That is drag. And almost all of it, on a body shaped like this, is decided by one thing: the point at which the flow chose to let go. What the ideal calculation left out is viscosity, and in particular what viscosity does inside an extremely thin sheet of fluid pressed against the surface. That sheet is called the boundary layer, and it is the subject of the next twenty minutes. And here is the destination. This is the drag coefficient of a sphere, plotted against Reynolds number, which is the one number that says how fast a flow is in the sense that matters. Notice that somewhere out to the right, the curve falls off a cliff. The drop is roughly a factor of four, and it happens because the boundary layer changes its character. So the plan is this. First the wall itself. Then the two quite different ways a body can feel drag. Then separation, the wake, and that cliff, which has a name of its own: the drag crisis. And by the end of it, you will know exactly why a golf ball is covered in dimples.

### [03:55.515 · The Wall, and the Layer It Makes](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=235.51485416666665)

Everything that follows comes out of one experimental fact, so let me put it on the board first. When a real fluid flows past a solid surface, the fluid actually touching that surface does not slide along it. It sticks. That is the no-slip condition. At the wall, the fluid velocity equals the wall velocity, and for a body sitting still that means zero. It holds for every ordinary fluid, however slippery it looks. Water, air, honey: at the wall, nothing moves relative to the wall. Far from the wall, of course, the fluid is doing whatever it likes. Out here it is travelling at the free stream speed U. So somewhere in between the velocity has to climb from nothing up to U, and it does that over some finite distance. There is the profile. Zero at the wall, rising very steeply just above it, and then flattening out as it joins the outer flow. A velocity that changes like that across a layer of fluid means the fluid is being sheared. And the shear stress at the wall is the viscosity, mu, multiplied by the slope of that profile at the wall. Steep profile, large stress. Gentle profile, small stress. That one quantity is the entire origin of friction drag, and we will come back to it. Now the real question. How far out into the fluid does the wall's influence reach? Put a thin flat plate edge on into a uniform stream, so that the plate barely disturbs the outer flow at all, and follow it from the leading edge. At the leading edge the layer has no thickness whatsoever: the fluid has only just met the plate. A short way downstream, here, the profile looks like this, and the affected fluid reaches up to about here. The convention is to call the edge of the layer the height at which the fluid has recovered ninety nine percent of the free stream speed. That height is delta, and delta is a function of how far along the plate you have travelled. Now watch what happens as I move that station downstream. The layer grows. The profile keeps essentially the same shape, it simply stretches upward, and the plate's influence reaches further and further out into the stream. The growth follows a square root. The thickness goes like the square root of the distance along the plate, and that is exactly what diffusion does. Viscosity carries news of the wall outward, and diffusion always spreads like the square root of time. Whether that layer is thin at all is decided by one dimensionless group, and here it is. Reynolds number: density, times speed, times distance, divided by viscosity. It compares the inertia of the fluid with its stickiness. High Reynolds number means a thin layer. Take air at ten metres per second over a plate one metre long. That is a Reynolds number of about seven hundred thousand, and at the far end of the plate the boundary layer is roughly five millimetres deep. And there is the reconciliation with Bernoulli. Outside those five millimetres, viscosity genuinely is negligible and Bernoulli genuinely does work. Inside them, viscosity is everything. The ideal theory was not wrong. It was blind to a thin strip that decides the answer. One more thing about this layer, and it is the thing the rest of the lecture turns on. Boundary layers come in two kinds. Near the leading edge the layer is laminar: smooth, orderly, sheets of fluid sliding over one another. Further downstream it goes unstable and becomes turbulent: eddies, mixing, fluid tumbling violently between one height and another. On a flat plate the switch happens at a Reynolds number of roughly five hundred thousand. Here the two profiles are drawn against the same axes: speed across the bottom as a fraction of the free stream, height up the side as a fraction of the layer thickness. And the turbulent one is visibly fuller. It holds a much higher speed much closer to the wall, because the eddies are continually dragging fast fluid down out of the outer flow and throwing slow fluid back up. That has two consequences, and they point in opposite directions. Look at the two slopes right at the wall. The turbulent one is far steeper, so the friction is higher. But the fluid down near the wall is now carrying a great deal more momentum. Hold on to that sentence. A turbulent boundary layer costs you more friction, and buys you more momentum in exactly the place the fluid is about to need it.

### [08:49.283 · Two Kinds of Drag](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=529.2832500000001)

Before we go anywhere near a sphere, let us be precise about what drag actually is. A body in a stream feels a force on every square millimetre of its surface, and that force always has exactly two parts. There is a pressure, pushing straight into the surface at right angles to it. And there is a shear stress, dragging along the surface in the direction the fluid is sliding. Take the component of each of those along the flow direction, and add them up over the whole body. The tangential parts give you friction drag. The normal parts give you pressure drag, which for historical reasons is also called form drag. Those two are not just different terms in a sum. They behave completely differently, and the cleanest way to see that is to take one object and turn it round. Here is a thin flat plate lying edge on, along the flow. The streamlines barely notice it is there. The pressure on the front edge is essentially the pressure on the back edge, so the pressure contribution is almost exactly nothing. But there is a boundary layer growing along both faces, and at every point of both faces the fluid is rubbing. Add up all of that shear and you have the entire drag. This plate is a pure friction body, and its drag coefficient is about five thousandths. Now turn the same plate through ninety degrees, so it faces the flow squarely. Nothing about the plate has changed. Only its orientation has. The fluid piles up against the front face and is brought to rest, so the pressure there is high. And it cannot get round those sharp edges at all, so it separates immediately, and the whole of the back face sits inside a wake at low pressure. Meanwhile the shear stress on those two faces points up and down, at right angles to the flow, so it contributes precisely nothing to the drag. Every last bit of the force is pressure, and the coefficient has gone from five thousandths to about one point two. Two hundred times the drag, from the same piece of metal. Which tells you that if you want to understand the drag of a real body, the first question is always which of those two bills you are paying. So here is the split for a few bodies. The columns are the fraction of the total drag paid as friction, and the fraction paid as pressure. The plate edge on, as we said, is a hundred percent friction. A well made airfoil is close behind it, around ninety percent friction, because it is shaped precisely so that the flow stays attached all the way to the trailing edge. And now look at the sphere. Roughly five percent friction, ninety five percent pressure. A sphere is much closer to a plate held face on than it is to an airfoil, which is not what most people expect from something so smooth and rounded. So for a sphere, and for most of the blunt objects you actually care about, friction is a rounding error. The drag is pressure drag. Pressure drag is set by the wake. And the wake is set by one thing only: where the boundary layer lets go of the surface. Which means that separation, that one decision the fluid makes, is the whole game. So let us go and watch it happen.

### [12:14.705 · Separation, and the Wake It Leaves](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=734.7050416666667)

Let us look at the pressure a sphere feels, all the way around its surface. Along the bottom is the angle measured from the front stagnation point, in degrees, so zero is the nose, ninety is the equator, and a hundred and eighty is the very back. Up the side is the pressure coefficient, which is just the pressure measured against the pressure far away and scaled by one half rho U squared. One means fully stopped fluid. Zero means the pressure of the undisturbed stream. The pale curve is what Bernoulli predicts. Coefficient one at the nose, falling as the fluid accelerates round the shoulder, a minimum of minus three at the equator, and then climbing all the way back up to one at the tail. Perfectly symmetric, and it integrates to nothing. Now split it at the equator. From the nose out to ninety degrees the pressure is falling as you move downstream. That is called a favourable gradient: the fluid is being pushed along, running downhill. But from the equator to the tail, the pressure rises as you move downstream. That is an adverse gradient, and now the fluid is being asked to climb. Out in the free stream the climb is easy. That fluid arrives at the equator moving fast, with plenty of kinetic energy to trade back for pressure. But down in the boundary layer, right against the surface, the fluid has already given most of its speed away to friction. It arrives at the hill with almost nothing in the tank. And here is what is actually measured on a real sphere. It follows the ideal curve round the front, and then, at about eighty degrees, it simply stops following it and goes flat. So let me draw what a rising pressure does to a boundary layer. Here is a wall, with the pressure increasing to the right, and three velocity profiles at three places along it. The first one is healthy. It has a good steep slope at the wall, the fluid down there is still moving forward, and the layer is firmly attached. A little further along, the rising pressure has been pushing back on that slow near-wall fluid the whole way, and the slope at the wall has been squeezed down to exactly zero. That point, where the wall slope vanishes, is the separation point. And just past it, the near-wall fluid has actually been driven backwards. The flow reverses, that reversed fluid wedges underneath the layer and lifts it clean off the surface, and the outer flow can no longer follow the body at all. So separation is not the fluid failing to turn a corner. It is the fluid near the wall running out of momentum while it is being asked to climb a pressure hill. Which tells you immediately what would help: more momentum near the wall. On a real sphere at ordinary speeds, with a laminar boundary layer, that happens about eighty degrees from the nose. Just before the widest point, and well short of the back. Downstream of that point the flow leaves the surface along these two lines, and the whole region they enclose is the wake. Broad, slow, and sitting at roughly the low pressure the fluid happened to have at the moment it let go. That is why the measured pressure curve went flat. Over the whole of the back of the sphere the pressure never recovers, because after separation there is no orderly deceleration left to recover it with. High at the nose, low across the entire rear, and the difference is the drag. So here is the sentence this whole lecture has been walking towards. The wider the wake, the bigger the drag. Anything that pushes the separation point further round towards the back narrows that wake, and cuts the drag. So put the two cases next to each other. On the left is the one we have just drawn: the boundary layer is still laminar when it meets the adverse gradient, its near-wall fluid is slow, and it gives up at eighty degrees. On the right, everything about the sphere is identical, but the boundary layer has already gone turbulent before it arrives. Remember what that does to the profile: the eddies are constantly dragging fast fluid down out of the free stream and into the slow region at the wall. So this layer arrives at the pressure hill with far more momentum in it, and it survives much further round. Separation moves back to about a hundred and twenty degrees, well past the widest point of the body. And look at the wake it leaves. Dramatically narrower than the one on the left, because the flow stayed attached long enough to be turned back inward before it let go. Compare the two shaded regions and you are looking at the entire drag crisis. A turbulent boundary layer does cost you more skin friction, and we said so earlier. But it separates later, and the pressure drag it saves is worth vastly more than the friction it costs. One picture, two wakes, and a factor of several in the force. All that remains is to find out when nature makes that switch for you, and how you can make it happen on purpose.

### [17:22.576 · The Drag Crisis, and the Golf Ball](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1042.5762916666667)

So, the curve I promised you at the start. The drag coefficient of a smooth sphere up the side, and along the bottom the logarithm, base ten, of the Reynolds number. Four on this axis means a Reynolds number of ten thousand, and six means a million. The drag coefficient is simply the drag made dimensionless: the force, divided by one half rho U squared, divided by the frontal area of the body. If nothing interesting ever happened in a fluid, this would be a constant, and the plot would be a horizontal line. Start over on the left, at a Reynolds number of a thousand. The pair beside the marker reads the horizontal coordinate first and the drag coefficient second, and there the coefficient is about zero point four seven. Now walk it up the axis. Ten thousand. A hundred thousand. Three hundred thousand. Across those three whole decades the curve barely moves at all. It sits between about zero point four and zero point five, a long, flat, boring plateau. And that plateau is exactly the picture we drew a moment ago. Laminar separation at eighty degrees, a wide wake, and a pressure drag that hardly cares how fast you go. At a hundred thousand the coefficient is still zero point four seven. And then this happens. In less than half a decade of Reynolds number, the drag coefficient falls from about zero point five to about zero point one. The drag on the sphere collapses to something like a fifth of what it was, while the sphere is being pushed through the fluid harder than before. That is the drag crisis, and the cause is precisely what we watched on the two spheres. At that Reynolds number the boundary layer turns turbulent before it reaches the adverse gradient. Separation jumps from eighty degrees back to a hundred and twenty, the wake narrows, and the pressure on the back comes up. Afterwards the curve creeps upward again, partly because the wake is now narrow enough that friction is starting to matter once more. But it never climbs back anywhere near the plateau. Now, a golf ball. A golf ball is about forty three millimetres across, and off the club face it is travelling at something like seventy metres per second. Put those two numbers into the Reynolds number and you get roughly two hundred thousand. Look where that lands on the curve. Two hundred thousand is a logarithm of five point three, which is right in the middle of the plateau, and comfortably on the wrong side of the crisis. A smooth ball of that size, hit that hard, has a drag coefficient of about zero point five. It is stuck on the expensive side of the cliff, and no golfer alive can swing hard enough to get over it. Unless, of course, you move the cliff. Which is what the dimples are for. They trip the boundary layer into turbulence deliberately, using roughness instead of speed. Here is the same measurement for a dimpled ball. The crisis has moved left, down to a Reynolds number of about fifty thousand, which is far below anything a golf ball will ever experience. So at two hundred thousand the dimpled ball is already past its own crisis, and its drag coefficient is about zero point two five. That is half the drag, near enough, and it is worth something like twice the carry. Which is why every golf ball made in the last century has been covered in dimples, and why a perfectly smooth one, hit properly, is faintly embarrassing to watch. And notice the price you pay for it. The dimpled ball after its crisis sits at about zero point two five, which is well above the zero point one the smooth ball reaches after its own. Turbulence is never free. It is simply far cheaper than a wide wake. So here is the whole chain, in order. No slip at the wall, so there is a thin layer where viscosity rules everything. That layer thickens along the surface, and the fluid inside it, near the wall, is slow. Push that slow fluid into a rising pressure and it stalls, reverses, and lifts off, and the wake it leaves behind is what sets the pressure drag. Make the layer turbulent and it survives the rising pressure further, so the wake is narrower and the drag is lower. Bernoulli was never wrong about any of this. It simply could not see the five millimetres of fluid pressed against the wall. And that, it turns out, is where the drag lives.

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## Complete audiovisual record

Immutable source: [semantic.json](https://academa.ai/media/l/01M14TZQMRTCNQJ9ANFG3GJ8T3/0/semantic.json)

Record version: 1. Render attempt: 0.

### How to read this timeline

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### Scene 1: [The Drag That Bernoulli Cannot Find](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=0)

Span: 00:00–03:55.515 (0s–235.51485416666665s).

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#### Beats

##### [00:00](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=0)

Narration: Bernoulli's equation is one of the first genuinely powerful results you meet in fluid mechanics, and it is also the source of one of the first genuine crises of confidence. Apply it carefully to a body sitting in a steady stream, and it tells you, quite calmly, that the body feels no drag whatsoever. Not a little drag. None.

Board: Empty.

Actions:
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- [00:20.213](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=20.213): card is hidden from the screen — left the board.

##### [00:21.413](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=21.413)

Narration: Let me set that calculation up, because the reasoning inside it is good. Here is a cylinder seen end on, sitting in a stream that arrives from the left at speed U. The pale lines are streamlines, the paths the fluid follows as it goes past.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

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##### [00:36.874](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=36.874)

Narration: The fluid in this calculation has no viscosity at all. Nothing sticks and nothing rubs. And with no viscosity the streamlines close up behind the body exactly as tidily as they opened in front of it. Cover half the picture, and you genuinely cannot tell which half you covered.

Board: ideal — a Figure (x\_range=(-3.0, 3.5), y\_range=(-2.2, 2.2), aspect=(6.5, 4.4)); head\_ideal — a Heading that says "The Flow With No Viscosity"; ideal\_body — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in ideal (radius=0.8, filled=True); ideal\_inflow — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in ideal (start=(-2.85, 1.95), end=(-1.95, 1.95)); ideal\_flow — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_2 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_3 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_4 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_5 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_6 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4))

Actions:
- [00:45.071](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=45.071000000000005): ideal\_flow\_3 is indicated — a transient flash.
- [00:45.271](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=45.27100000000001): ideal\_flow\_4 is indicated — a transient flash.

##### [00:54.373](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=54.3725)

Narration: So put Bernoulli to work along one of them. Pressure plus one half rho U squared is a constant, so where the fluid speeds up the pressure falls, and where it slows down the pressure rises. Right at the nose the fluid is brought completely to rest, so the pressure there is as high as it gets.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [00:57.363](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=57.36300000000001): ideal moves to a new place on the board.
- [00:57.363](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=57.36300000000001): bernoulli is shown on the screen, written out.
- [01:7.289](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=67.289): nose\_high is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [01:12.893](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=72.89250000000001)

Narration: Over the shoulders it has to hurry to get around, so the pressure there drops. And then at the tail the fluid slows to a stop a second time, and the pressure climbs back to exactly the value it had at the front.

Board: bernoulli — a Math \[text\] that says "$p + frac(1, 2) rho U^2 = upright("constant")$"; ideal — a Figure (x\_range=(-3.0, 3.5), y\_range=(-2.2, 2.2), aspect=(6.5, 4.4)); head\_ideal — a Heading that says "The Flow With No Viscosity"; ideal\_body — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in ideal (radius=0.8, filled=True); ideal\_inflow — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in ideal (start=(-2.85, 1.95), end=(-1.95, 1.95)); ideal\_flow — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_2 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_3 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_4 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_5 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_6 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); nose\_high — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high")" drawn in ideal (location=(-0.8, 0.0))

Actions:
- [01:13.647](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=73.64700000000002): top\_low is shown on the screen, written out.
- [01:13.897](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=73.89700000000002): bottom\_low is shown on the screen, written out.
- [01:18.268](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=78.26800000000001): tail\_high is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [01:25.416](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=85.41600000000001)

Narration: Which means every push on the front is matched by an equal push on the back. Add the pressure up over the whole surface, and the total along the flow is zero. That is d'Alembert's paradox, and it is not an algebra slip. It is what the ideal theory honestly says.

Board: bernoulli — a Math \[text\] that says "$p + frac(1, 2) rho U^2 = upright("constant")$"; ideal — a Figure (x\_range=(-3.0, 3.5), y\_range=(-2.2, 2.2), aspect=(6.5, 4.4)); head\_ideal — a Heading that says "The Flow With No Viscosity"; ideal\_body — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in ideal (radius=0.8, filled=True); ideal\_inflow — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in ideal (start=(-2.85, 1.95), end=(-1.95, 1.95)); ideal\_flow — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_2 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_3 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_4 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_5 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_6 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); nose\_high — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high")" drawn in ideal (location=(-0.8, 0.0)); top\_low — a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low")" drawn in ideal (location=(0.0, 0.8)); bottom\_low — a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low")" drawn in ideal (location=(0.0, -0.8)); tail\_high — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high")" drawn in ideal (location=(0.8, 0.0))

Actions:
- [01:28.017](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=88.017): matched is shown on the screen, written out.
- [01:37.282](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=97.282): paradox is shown on the screen, written out.
- [01:43.388](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=103.388): ideal moves to a new place on the board.
- [01:43.388](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=103.388): bernoulli is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [01:43.388](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=103.388): head\_ideal is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [01:43.388](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=103.388): matched is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [01:43.388](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=103.388): paradox is hidden from the screen — left the board.

##### [01:44.588](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=104.58800000000001)

Narration: Here is the same body in real air, put beside the prediction. Same shape, same speed. And the flow gets around the front perfectly happily.

Board: ideal — a Figure (x\_range=(-3.0, 3.5), y\_range=(-2.2, 2.2), aspect=(6.5, 4.4)); ideal\_body — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in ideal (radius=0.8, filled=True); ideal\_inflow — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in ideal (start=(-2.85, 1.95), end=(-1.95, 1.95)); ideal\_flow — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_2 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_3 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_4 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_5 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_6 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); nose\_high — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high")" drawn in ideal (location=(-0.8, 0.0)); top\_low — a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low")" drawn in ideal (location=(0.0, 0.8)); bottom\_low — a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low")" drawn in ideal (location=(0.0, -0.8)); tail\_high — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high")" drawn in ideal (location=(0.8, 0.0))

Actions:
- [01:44.588](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=104.58800000000001): head\_compare is shown on the screen, written out.
- [01:44.588](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=104.58800000000001): real is shown on the screen, written out.
- [01:49.186](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=109.186): real\_body is shown on the screen, written out.
- [01:52.425](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=112.425): real\_flow is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [01:52.545](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=112.545): real\_flow\_2 is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [01:52.665](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=112.66499999999999): real\_flow\_3 is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [01:52.785](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=112.785): real\_flow\_4 is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [01:52.905](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=112.905): real\_flow\_5 is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [01:53.025](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=113.02499999999999): real\_flow\_6 is shown on the screen, drawn.

##### [01:54.546](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=114.5455)

Narration: Then, somewhere near the widest part of the body, it lets go of the surface completely. Those two red lines mark where it leaves. Behind them sits a broad, churning region of slow, disorganised fluid, and that region is called the wake.

Board: ideal — a Figure (x\_range=(-3.0, 3.5), y\_range=(-2.2, 2.2), aspect=(6.5, 4.4)); ideal\_body — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in ideal (radius=0.8, filled=True); ideal\_inflow — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in ideal (start=(-2.85, 1.95), end=(-1.95, 1.95)); ideal\_flow — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_2 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_3 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_4 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_5 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_6 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); nose\_high — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high")" drawn in ideal (location=(-0.8, 0.0)); top\_low — a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low")" drawn in ideal (location=(0.0, 0.8)); bottom\_low — a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low")" drawn in ideal (location=(0.0, -0.8)); tail\_high — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high")" drawn in ideal (location=(0.8, 0.0)); real — a Figure (x\_range=(-3.0, 3.5), y\_range=(-2.2, 2.2), aspect=(6.5, 4.4)); head\_compare — a Heading that says "The Prediction, and the Real Thing"; real\_body — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in real (radius=0.8, filled=True); real\_flow — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); real\_flow\_2 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); real\_flow\_3 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); real\_flow\_4 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); real\_flow\_5 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); real\_flow\_6 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4))

Actions:
- [01:57.843](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=117.843): sep\_up is shown on the screen, written out.
- [01:58.043](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=118.043): sep\_down is shown on the screen, written out.
- [02:0.653](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=120.653): layer\_up is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [02:0.853](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=120.85300000000001): layer\_down is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [02:9.035](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=129.035): wake is shown on the screen, faded in.

##### [02:10.274](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=130.2735)

Narration: And now the symmetry is gone. At the nose the pressure is still high, because the fluid is still being stopped there. But at the back it never recovers, because nothing back there slows down in the orderly way the ideal picture assumed. It stays low.

Board: ideal — a Figure (x\_range=(-3.0, 3.5), y\_range=(-2.2, 2.2), aspect=(6.5, 4.4)); ideal\_body — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in ideal (radius=0.8, filled=True); ideal\_inflow — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in ideal (start=(-2.85, 1.95), end=(-1.95, 1.95)); ideal\_flow — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_2 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_3 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_4 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_5 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_6 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); nose\_high — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high")" drawn in ideal (location=(-0.8, 0.0)); top\_low — a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low")" drawn in ideal (location=(0.0, 0.8)); bottom\_low — a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low")" drawn in ideal (location=(0.0, -0.8)); tail\_high — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high")" drawn in ideal (location=(0.8, 0.0)); real — a Figure (x\_range=(-3.0, 3.5), y\_range=(-2.2, 2.2), aspect=(6.5, 4.4)); head\_compare — a Heading that says "The Prediction, and the Real Thing"; real\_body — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in real (radius=0.8, filled=True); real\_flow — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); real\_flow\_2 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); real\_flow\_3 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); real\_flow\_4 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); real\_flow\_5 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); real\_flow\_6 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); sep\_up — a Point \[yellow\] labelled "S" drawn in real (location=(-0.11, 0.79)); sep\_down — a Point \[yellow\] drawn in real (location=(-0.11, -0.79)); layer\_up — a Line \[red\] drawn in real (start=(-0.11, 0.79), end=(3.35, 1.45)); layer\_down — a Line \[red\] drawn in real (start=(-0.11, -0.79), end=(3.35, -1.45)); wake — a Polygon \[red\] drawn in real (vertices=((-0.11, 0.79), (3.35, 1.45), (3.35, -1.45), (-0.11, -0.79)), fill\_opacity=0.22)

Actions:
- [02:13.339](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=133.339): real\_nose is shown on the screen, written out.
- [02:25.494](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=145.49400000000003): real\_tail is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [02:26.942](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=146.942)

Narration: You can read that straight off the two pictures. On the left there are two high marks, one at each end, and they cancel each other exactly. On the right there is a high mark at the front and a low one at the back, and nothing cancels anything.

Board: ideal — a Figure (x\_range=(-3.0, 3.5), y\_range=(-2.2, 2.2), aspect=(6.5, 4.4)); ideal\_body — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in ideal (radius=0.8, filled=True); ideal\_inflow — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in ideal (start=(-2.85, 1.95), end=(-1.95, 1.95)); ideal\_flow — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_2 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_3 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_4 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_5 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); ideal\_flow\_6 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in ideal (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); nose\_high — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high")" drawn in ideal (location=(-0.8, 0.0)); top\_low — a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low")" drawn in ideal (location=(0.0, 0.8)); bottom\_low — a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low")" drawn in ideal (location=(0.0, -0.8)); tail\_high — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high")" drawn in ideal (location=(0.8, 0.0)); real — a Figure (x\_range=(-3.0, 3.5), y\_range=(-2.2, 2.2), aspect=(6.5, 4.4)); head\_compare — a Heading that says "The Prediction, and the Real Thing"; real\_body — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in real (radius=0.8, filled=True); real\_flow — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); real\_flow\_2 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); real\_flow\_3 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); real\_flow\_4 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); real\_flow\_5 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); real\_flow\_6 — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] drawn in real (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(-2.95, 3.4)); sep\_up — a Point \[yellow\] labelled "S" drawn in real (location=(-0.11, 0.79)); sep\_down — a Point \[yellow\] drawn in real (location=(-0.11, -0.79)); layer\_up — a Line \[red\] drawn in real (start=(-0.11, 0.79), end=(3.35, 1.45)); layer\_down — a Line \[red\] drawn in real (start=(-0.11, -0.79), end=(3.35, -1.45)); wake — a Polygon \[red\] drawn in real (vertices=((-0.11, 0.79), (3.35, 1.45), (3.35, -1.45), (-0.11, -0.79)), fill\_opacity=0.22); real\_nose — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high")" drawn in real (location=(-0.8, 0.0)); real\_tail — a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low")" drawn in real (location=(1.35, 0.0))

Actions:
- [02:30.494](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=150.494): nose\_high is indicated — a transient flash.
- [02:30.794](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=150.794): tail\_high is indicated — a transient flash.
- [02:35.87](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=155.86999999999998): real\_nose is indicated — a transient flash.
- [02:36.17](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=156.17): real\_tail is indicated — a transient flash.

##### [02:41.196](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=161.1955)

Narration: High pressure on the front, low pressure on the back, and the difference is a net backward force. That is drag. And almost all of it, on a body shaped like this, is decided by one thing: the point at which the flow chose to let go.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [02:47.964](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=167.96400000000003): wake is indicated — a transient flash.
- [02:55.685](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=175.68500000000003): sep\_up is indicated — a transient flash.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): head\_compare is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): ideal is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): ideal\_body is hidden from the screen — ideal left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): ideal\_inflow is hidden from the screen — ideal left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): ideal\_flow is hidden from the screen — ideal left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): ideal\_flow\_2 is hidden from the screen — ideal left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): ideal\_flow\_3 is hidden from the screen — ideal left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): ideal\_flow\_4 is hidden from the screen — ideal left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): ideal\_flow\_5 is hidden from the screen — ideal left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): ideal\_flow\_6 is hidden from the screen — ideal left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): nose\_high is hidden from the screen — ideal left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): top\_low is hidden from the screen — ideal left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): bottom\_low is hidden from the screen — ideal left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): tail\_high is hidden from the screen — ideal left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): real is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): real\_body is hidden from the screen — real left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): real\_flow is hidden from the screen — real left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): real\_flow\_2 is hidden from the screen — real left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): real\_flow\_3 is hidden from the screen — real left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): real\_flow\_4 is hidden from the screen — real left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): real\_flow\_5 is hidden from the screen — real left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): real\_flow\_6 is hidden from the screen — real left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): sep\_up is hidden from the screen — real left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): sep\_down is hidden from the screen — real left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): layer\_up is hidden from the screen — real left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): layer\_down is hidden from the screen — real left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): wake is hidden from the screen — real left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): real\_nose is hidden from the screen — real left the board.
- [02:56.428](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=176.4275): real\_tail is hidden from the screen — real left the board.

##### [02:57.627](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=177.6275)

Narration: What the ideal calculation left out is viscosity, and in particular what viscosity does inside an extremely thin sheet of fluid pressed against the surface. That sheet is called the boundary layer, and it is the subject of the next twenty minutes.

Board: Empty.

Actions:
- [02:57.627](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=177.6275): head\_plan is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [03:12.647](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=192.647)

Narration: And here is the destination. This is the drag coefficient of a sphere, plotted against Reynolds number, which is the one number that says how fast a flow is in the sense that matters. Notice that somewhere out to the right, the curve falls off a cliff.

Board: head\_plan — a Heading that says "Where This Is Going"

Actions:
- [03:13.808](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=193.80800000000002): cd\_axes is shown on the screen, written out.
- [03:16.989](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=196.989): cd\_curve is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [03:27.566](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=207.566): point is shown on the screen, grown.

##### [03:29.025](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=209.0255)

Narration: The drop is roughly a factor of four, and it happens because the boundary layer changes its character. So the plan is this. First the wall itself. Then the two quite different ways a body can feel drag. Then separation, the wake, and that cliff, which has a name of its own: the drag crisis.

Board: cd\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(1.9, 6.6), y\_range=(0.0, 1.3), aspect=(5.0, 3.4)); head\_plan — a Heading that says "Where This Is Going"; cd\_curve — a FunctionPlot \[blue\] drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5)); point — a Point \[yellow\] drawn in cd\_axes (location=(5.7, 0.12))

Actions:
- [03:29.025](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=209.0255): roadmap is shown on the screen, written out.
- [03:29.566](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=209.566): point is hidden from the screen.
- [03:37.779](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=217.779): roadmap (the "The wall, and its layer" part) is emphasized.
- [03:40.682](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=220.682): roadmap (the "Friction drag, pressure drag" part) is emphasized.
- [03:40.682](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=220.682): roadmap (the "The wall, and its layer" part) is no longer emphasized.
- [03:43.422](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=223.42199999999997): roadmap (the "Friction drag, pressure drag" part) is no longer emphasized.
- [03:43.422](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=223.42199999999997): roadmap (the "Separation and the crisis" part) is emphasized.
- [03:49.203](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=229.2035): roadmap (the "Separation and the crisis" part) is no longer emphasized.

##### [03:49.803](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=229.80349999999999)

Narration: And by the end of it, you will know exactly why a golf ball is covered in dimples.

Board: roadmap — a Block \[text\] that says "The wall, and its layer Friction drag, pressure drag Separation and the crisis"; cd\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(1.9, 6.6), y\_range=(0.0, 1.3), aspect=(5.0, 3.4)); head\_plan — a Heading that says "Where This Is Going"; cd\_curve — a FunctionPlot \[blue\] drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5))

Actions:
- [03:50.698](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=230.69799999999998): cd\_curve is indicated — a transient flash.
- [03:54.473](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=234.4731875): cd\_axes is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [03:54.473](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=234.4731875): cd\_curve is hidden from the screen — cd\_axes left the board.
- [03:54.473](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=234.4731875): head\_plan is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [03:54.473](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=234.4731875): roadmap is hidden from the screen — left the board.

### Scene 2: [The Wall, and the Layer It Makes](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=235.51485416666665)

Span: 03:55.515–08:49.283 (235.51485416666665s–529.2832500000001s).

#### Objects

- edge: a FunctionPlot \[green\] labelled "delta(x)" drawn in plate (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(0.0, 6.2))
- free\_name: a Math \[text\] that says "$U$" drawn in wall
- fuller: a Text \[text\] that says "The turbulent profile is fuller, so its wall slope is steeper and its near-wall fluid is faster."
- gauge: a Line \[green\] labelled "delta" drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, 0.0), end=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.62 \* sqrt(station))), dashed=True)
- gauge\_dot: a Point \[green\] drawn in plate (location=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))
- head\_kinds: a Heading that says "Two Kinds of Boundary Layer"
- head\_plate: a Heading that says "How Thick Is Thin?"
- head\_wall: a Heading that says "What Happens At a Wall"
- kinds: a Block \[text\] that says "Laminar: smooth, layered, almost no mixing Switch near $upright("Re")\_x approx 5 times 10^5$ Turbulent: eddies drag fast fluid to the wall"
- laminar: a ParametricCurve \[blue\] labelled "upright("laminar")" drawn in shapes (function=\<function\>)
- no\_slip: a Panel that says "At a solid surface the fluid does not slide. Its velocity there is the velocity of the surface itself, which for a body at rest is zero."
- outer: a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(0.3, 2.0), end=(1.45, 2.0))
- outer\_2: a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(0.3, 2.3), end=(1.45, 2.3))
- plate: a Figure (x\_range=(-0.3, 6.6), y\_range=(-0.6, 2.5), aspect=(6.9, 3.1))
- plate\_body: a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in plate (vertices=((0.0, -0.55), (6.2, -0.55), (6.2, 0.0), (0.0, 0.0)), fill\_opacity=0.55)
- profile\_arrows: a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.25 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))…, end=((station + 0.44), (0.25 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))))
- profile\_arrows\_2: a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.5 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))), end=((station + 0.81), (0.5 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))))
- profile\_arrows\_3: a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.75 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))…, end=((station + 1.06), (0.75 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))))
- profile\_arrows\_4: a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (1.0 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))), end=((station + 1.15), (1.0 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))))
- reynolds: a Math \[text\] that says "$upright("Re")\_x = frac(rho U x, mu)$"
- shapes: an Axes (x\_range=(0.0, 1.15), y\_range=(0.0, 1.15), aspect=(4.0, 3.6))
- shear\_law: a Math \[text\] that says "$tau\_w = mu (frac(partial u, partial y))\_(y = 0)$"
- solid: a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in wall (vertices=((0.05, -0.5), (4.2, -0.5), (4.2, 0.0), (0.05, 0.0)), fill\_opacity=0.55)
- station: a VariableNumber (initial\_value=1.0, format\_spec='.1f')
- stuck: a Point \[red\] labelled "u = 0" drawn in wall (location=(0.95, 0.0))
- thickness\_law: a Math \[text\] that says "$delta(x) prop sqrt(frac(mu x, rho U))$"
- turbulent: a ParametricCurve \[red\] labelled "upright("turbulent")" drawn in shapes (function=\<function\>)
- wall: a Figure (x\_range=(0.0, 4.3), y\_range=(-0.55, 2.05), aspect=(4.3, 2.6))
- wall\_arrows: a Vector \[blue\] drawn in wall (start=(0.95, 0.15), end=(1.2621445152258053, 0.15))
- wall\_arrows\_2: a Vector \[blue\] drawn in wall (start=(0.95, 0.35), end=(1.6576619043504022, 0.35))
- wall\_arrows\_3: a Vector \[blue\] drawn in wall (start=(0.95, 0.6), end=(2.0813708498984758, 0.6))
- wall\_arrows\_4: a Vector \[blue\] drawn in wall (start=(0.95, 0.9), end=(2.428207252018059, 0.9))
- wall\_arrows\_5: a Vector \[blue\] drawn in wall (start=(0.95, 1.2), end=(2.55, 1.2))
- wall\_arrows\_6: a Vector \[blue\] drawn in wall (start=(0.95, 1.55), end=(2.55, 1.55))
- wall\_shape: a ParametricCurve \[yellow\] drawn in wall (function=\<function\>, t\_range=(0.0, 1.85))

#### Beats

##### [03:55.515](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=235.51485416666665)

Narration: Everything that follows comes out of one experimental fact, so let me put it on the board first. When a real fluid flows past a solid surface, the fluid actually touching that surface does not slide along it. It sticks.

Board: Empty.

Actions:
- [03:55.515](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=235.51485416666665): head\_wall is shown on the screen, written out.
- [03:55.515](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=235.51485416666665): wall is shown on the screen, written out.
- [04:4.048](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=244.04785416666664): solid is shown on the screen, written out.
- [04:9.261](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=249.26085416666666): stuck is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [04:10.964](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=250.96385416666666)

Narration: That is the no-slip condition. At the wall, the fluid velocity equals the wall velocity, and for a body sitting still that means zero. It holds for every ordinary fluid, however slippery it looks. Water, air, honey: at the wall, nothing moves relative to the wall.

Board: wall — a Figure (x\_range=(0.0, 4.3), y\_range=(-0.55, 2.05), aspect=(4.3, 2.6)); head\_wall — a Heading that says "What Happens At a Wall"; solid — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in wall (vertices=((0.05, -0.5), (4.2, -0.5), (4.2, 0.0), (0.05, 0.0)), fill\_opacity=0.55); stuck — a Point \[red\] labelled "u = 0" drawn in wall (location=(0.95, 0.0))

Actions:
- [04:12.16](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=252.15985416666666): wall moves to a new place on the board.
- [04:12.16](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=252.15985416666666): no\_slip is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [04:31.847](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=271.84735416666666)

Narration: Far from the wall, of course, the fluid is doing whatever it likes. Out here it is travelling at the free stream speed U. So somewhere in between the velocity has to climb from nothing up to U, and it does that over some finite distance.

Board: no\_slip — a Panel that says "At a solid surface the fluid does not slide. Its velocity there is the velocity of the surface itself, which for a body at rest is zero."; wall — a Figure (x\_range=(0.0, 4.3), y\_range=(-0.55, 2.05), aspect=(4.3, 2.6)); head\_wall — a Heading that says "What Happens At a Wall"; solid — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in wall (vertices=((0.05, -0.5), (4.2, -0.5), (4.2, 0.0), (0.05, 0.0)), fill\_opacity=0.55); stuck — a Point \[red\] labelled "u = 0" drawn in wall (location=(0.95, 0.0))

Actions:
- [04:38.372](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=278.37185416666665): free\_name is shown on the screen, written out.
- [04:42.169](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=282.1688541666667): wall\_arrows is shown on the screen, written out.
- [04:42.329](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=282.32885416666664): wall\_arrows\_2 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [04:42.489](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=282.48885416666667): wall\_arrows\_3 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [04:42.649](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=282.64885416666664): wall\_arrows\_4 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [04:42.809](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=282.80885416666666): wall\_arrows\_5 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [04:42.969](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=282.96885416666663): wall\_arrows\_6 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [04:45.675](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=285.67485416666665): wall\_shape is shown on the screen, drawn.

##### [04:47.169](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=287.1688541666667)

Narration: There is the profile. Zero at the wall, rising very steeply just above it, and then flattening out as it joins the outer flow. A velocity that changes like that across a layer of fluid means the fluid is being sheared.

Board: no\_slip — a Panel that says "At a solid surface the fluid does not slide. Its velocity there is the velocity of the surface itself, which for a body at rest is zero."; wall — a Figure (x\_range=(0.0, 4.3), y\_range=(-0.55, 2.05), aspect=(4.3, 2.6)); head\_wall — a Heading that says "What Happens At a Wall"; solid — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in wall (vertices=((0.05, -0.5), (4.2, -0.5), (4.2, 0.0), (0.05, 0.0)), fill\_opacity=0.55); stuck — a Point \[red\] labelled "u = 0" drawn in wall (location=(0.95, 0.0)); free\_name — a Math \[text\] that says "$U$" drawn in wall; wall\_arrows — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in wall (start=(0.95, 0.15), end=(1.2621445152258053, 0.15)); wall\_arrows\_2 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in wall (start=(0.95, 0.35), end=(1.6576619043504022, 0.35)); wall\_arrows\_3 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in wall (start=(0.95, 0.6), end=(2.0813708498984758, 0.6)); wall\_arrows\_4 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in wall (start=(0.95, 0.9), end=(2.428207252018059, 0.9)); wall\_arrows\_5 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in wall (start=(0.95, 1.2), end=(2.55, 1.2)); wall\_arrows\_6 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in wall (start=(0.95, 1.55), end=(2.55, 1.55)); wall\_shape — a ParametricCurve \[yellow\] drawn in wall (function=\<function\>, t\_range=(0.0, 1.85))

Actions:
- [04:48.005](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=288.00485416666663): wall\_shape is indicated — a transient flash.

##### [05:2.374](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=302.37385416666666)

Narration: And the shear stress at the wall is the viscosity, mu, multiplied by the slope of that profile at the wall. Steep profile, large stress. Gentle profile, small stress. That one quantity is the entire origin of friction drag, and we will come back to it.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [05:4.801](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=304.8008541666667): shear\_law is shown on the screen, written out.
- [05:5.544](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=305.5438541666667): shear\_law (the "mu" part) is emphasized.
- [05:7.181](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=307.1808541666667): shear\_law (the "frac(partial u, partial y)" part) is emphasized.
- [05:7.181](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=307.1808541666667): shear\_law (the "mu" part) is no longer emphasized.
- [05:9.665](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=309.66485416666666): shear\_law (the "frac(partial u, partial y)" part) is no longer emphasized.
- [05:20.184](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=320.18435416666665): head\_wall is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [05:20.184](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=320.18435416666665): no\_slip is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [05:20.184](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=320.18435416666665): shear\_law is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [05:20.184](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=320.18435416666665): wall is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [05:20.184](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=320.18435416666665): solid is hidden from the screen — wall left the board.
- [05:20.184](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=320.18435416666665): stuck is hidden from the screen — wall left the board.
- [05:20.184](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=320.18435416666665): free\_name is hidden from the screen — wall left the board.
- [05:20.184](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=320.18435416666665): wall\_arrows is hidden from the screen — wall left the board.
- [05:20.184](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=320.18435416666665): wall\_arrows\_2 is hidden from the screen — wall left the board.
- [05:20.184](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=320.18435416666665): wall\_arrows\_3 is hidden from the screen — wall left the board.
- [05:20.184](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=320.18435416666665): wall\_arrows\_4 is hidden from the screen — wall left the board.
- [05:20.184](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=320.18435416666665): wall\_arrows\_5 is hidden from the screen — wall left the board.
- [05:20.184](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=320.18435416666665): wall\_arrows\_6 is hidden from the screen — wall left the board.
- [05:20.184](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=320.18435416666665): wall\_shape is hidden from the screen — wall left the board.

##### [05:21.384](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=321.38435416666664)

Narration: Now the real question. How far out into the fluid does the wall's influence reach? Put a thin flat plate edge on into a uniform stream, so that the plate barely disturbs the outer flow at all, and follow it from the leading edge.

Board: Empty.

Actions:
- [05:21.384](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=321.38435416666664): head\_plate is shown on the screen, written out.
- [05:21.384](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=321.38435416666664): plate is shown on the screen, written out.
- [05:28.118](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=328.1178541666667): plate\_body is shown on the screen, written out.
- [05:30.103](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=330.1028541666667): outer is shown on the screen, written out.
- [05:30.303](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=330.3028541666667): outer\_2 is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [05:36.602](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=336.60185416666667)

Narration: At the leading edge the layer has no thickness whatsoever: the fluid has only just met the plate. A short way downstream, here, the profile looks like this, and the affected fluid reaches up to about here.

Board: plate — a Figure (x\_range=(-0.3, 6.6), y\_range=(-0.6, 2.5), aspect=(6.9, 3.1)); head\_plate — a Heading that says "How Thick Is Thin?"; plate\_body — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in plate (vertices=((0.0, -0.55), (6.2, -0.55), (6.2, 0.0), (0.0, 0.0)), fill\_opacity=0.55); outer — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(0.3, 2.0), end=(1.45, 2.0)); outer\_2 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(0.3, 2.3), end=(1.45, 2.3))

Actions:
- [05:45.53](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=345.52985416666667): profile\_arrows is shown on the screen, written out.
- [05:45.69](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=345.6898541666667): profile\_arrows\_2 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [05:45.85](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=345.84985416666666): profile\_arrows\_3 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [05:46.01](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=346.0098541666667): profile\_arrows\_4 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [05:48.107](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=348.10685416666666): gauge is shown on the screen, written out.
- [05:48.978](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=348.97785416666665): gauge\_dot is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [05:50.356](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=350.3558541666667)

Narration: The convention is to call the edge of the layer the height at which the fluid has recovered ninety nine percent of the free stream speed. That height is delta, and delta is a function of how far along the plate you have travelled.

Board: plate — a Figure (x\_range=(-0.3, 6.6), y\_range=(-0.6, 2.5), aspect=(6.9, 3.1)); head\_plate — a Heading that says "How Thick Is Thin?"; plate\_body — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in plate (vertices=((0.0, -0.55), (6.2, -0.55), (6.2, 0.0), (0.0, 0.0)), fill\_opacity=0.55); outer — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(0.3, 2.0), end=(1.45, 2.0)); outer\_2 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(0.3, 2.3), end=(1.45, 2.3)); profile\_arrows — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.25 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))…, end=((station + 0.44), (0.25 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); profile\_arrows\_2 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.5 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))), end=((station + 0.81), (0.5 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); profile\_arrows\_3 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.75 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))…, end=((station + 1.06), (0.75 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); profile\_arrows\_4 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (1.0 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))), end=((station + 1.15), (1.0 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); gauge — a Line \[green\] labelled "delta" drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, 0.0), end=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.62 \* sqrt(station))), dashed=True); gauge\_dot — a Point \[green\] drawn in plate (location=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))

Actions:
- [05:58.959](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=358.9588541666667): gauge\_dot is indicated — a transient flash.

##### [06:4.202](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=364.2023541666667)

Narration: Now watch what happens as I move that station downstream. The layer grows. The profile keeps essentially the same shape, it simply stretches upward, and the plate's influence reaches further and further out into the stream.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [06:4.899](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=364.89885416666664): edge is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [06:8.777](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=368.7768541666667): profile\_arrows is redrawn as the numbers it depends on change.
- [06:8.777](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=368.7768541666667): profile\_arrows\_2 is redrawn as the numbers it depends on change.
- [06:8.777](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=368.7768541666667): profile\_arrows\_3 is redrawn as the numbers it depends on change.
- [06:8.777](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=368.7768541666667): profile\_arrows\_4 is redrawn as the numbers it depends on change.
- [06:8.777](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=368.7768541666667): gauge is redrawn as the numbers it depends on change.
- [06:8.777](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=368.7768541666667): gauge\_dot is redrawn as the numbers it depends on change.
- [06:8.777](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=368.7768541666667): station ticks to 5.2.

##### [06:18.815](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=378.8153541666667)

Narration: The growth follows a square root. The thickness goes like the square root of the distance along the plate, and that is exactly what diffusion does. Viscosity carries news of the wall outward, and diffusion always spreads like the square root of time.

Board: plate — a Figure (x\_range=(-0.3, 6.6), y\_range=(-0.6, 2.5), aspect=(6.9, 3.1)); head\_plate — a Heading that says "How Thick Is Thin?"; plate\_body — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in plate (vertices=((0.0, -0.55), (6.2, -0.55), (6.2, 0.0), (0.0, 0.0)), fill\_opacity=0.55); outer — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(0.3, 2.0), end=(1.45, 2.0)); outer\_2 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(0.3, 2.3), end=(1.45, 2.3)); profile\_arrows — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.25 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))…, end=((station + 0.44), (0.25 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); profile\_arrows\_2 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.5 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))), end=((station + 0.81), (0.5 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); profile\_arrows\_3 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.75 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))…, end=((station + 1.06), (0.75 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); profile\_arrows\_4 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (1.0 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))), end=((station + 1.15), (1.0 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); gauge — a Line \[green\] labelled "delta" drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, 0.0), end=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.62 \* sqrt(station))), dashed=True); gauge\_dot — a Point \[green\] drawn in plate (location=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))); edge — a FunctionPlot \[green\] labelled "delta(x)" drawn in plate (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(0.0, 6.2))

Actions:
- [06:21.695](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=381.6948541666667): plate moves to a new place on the board.
- [06:21.695](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=381.6948541666667): thickness\_law is shown on the screen, written out.
- [06:26.188](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=386.1878541666667): thickness\_law (the "sqrt(frac(mu x, rho U))" part) is emphasized.
- [06:31.819](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=391.8188541666667): thickness\_law (the "sqrt(frac(mu x, rho U))" part) is no longer emphasized.

##### [06:34.497](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=394.4973541666667)

Narration: Whether that layer is thin at all is decided by one dimensionless group, and here it is. Reynolds number: density, times speed, times distance, divided by viscosity. It compares the inertia of the fluid with its stickiness.

Board: thickness\_law — a Math \[text\] that says "$delta(x) prop sqrt(frac(mu x, rho U))$"; plate — a Figure (x\_range=(-0.3, 6.6), y\_range=(-0.6, 2.5), aspect=(6.9, 3.1)); head\_plate — a Heading that says "How Thick Is Thin?"; plate\_body — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in plate (vertices=((0.0, -0.55), (6.2, -0.55), (6.2, 0.0), (0.0, 0.0)), fill\_opacity=0.55); outer — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(0.3, 2.0), end=(1.45, 2.0)); outer\_2 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(0.3, 2.3), end=(1.45, 2.3)); profile\_arrows — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.25 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))…, end=((station + 0.44), (0.25 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); profile\_arrows\_2 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.5 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))), end=((station + 0.81), (0.5 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); profile\_arrows\_3 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.75 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))…, end=((station + 1.06), (0.75 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); profile\_arrows\_4 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (1.0 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))), end=((station + 1.15), (1.0 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); gauge — a Line \[green\] labelled "delta" drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, 0.0), end=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.62 \* sqrt(station))), dashed=True); gauge\_dot — a Point \[green\] drawn in plate (location=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))); edge — a FunctionPlot \[green\] labelled "delta(x)" drawn in plate (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(0.0, 6.2))

Actions:
- [06:40.186](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=400.1858541666667): reynolds is shown on the screen, written out.
- [06:41.568](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=401.5678541666667): reynolds (the "rho U x" part) is emphasized.
- [06:45.829](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=405.8288541666667): reynolds (the "mu" part) is emphasized.
- [06:45.829](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=405.8288541666667): reynolds (the "rho U x" part) is no longer emphasized.
- [06:49.614](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=409.61385416666667): reynolds (the "mu" part) is no longer emphasized.

##### [06:51.398](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=411.39785416666666)

Narration: High Reynolds number means a thin layer. Take air at ten metres per second over a plate one metre long. That is a Reynolds number of about seven hundred thousand, and at the far end of the plate the boundary layer is roughly five millimetres deep.

Board: thickness\_law — a Math \[text\] that says "$delta(x) prop sqrt(frac(mu x, rho U))$"; reynolds — a Math \[text\] that says "$upright("Re")\_x = frac(rho U x, mu)$"; plate — a Figure (x\_range=(-0.3, 6.6), y\_range=(-0.6, 2.5), aspect=(6.9, 3.1)); head\_plate — a Heading that says "How Thick Is Thin?"; plate\_body — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in plate (vertices=((0.0, -0.55), (6.2, -0.55), (6.2, 0.0), (0.0, 0.0)), fill\_opacity=0.55); outer — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(0.3, 2.0), end=(1.45, 2.0)); outer\_2 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(0.3, 2.3), end=(1.45, 2.3)); profile\_arrows — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.25 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))…, end=((station + 0.44), (0.25 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); profile\_arrows\_2 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.5 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))), end=((station + 0.81), (0.5 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); profile\_arrows\_3 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.75 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))…, end=((station + 1.06), (0.75 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); profile\_arrows\_4 — a Vector \[blue\] drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (1.0 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))), end=((station + 1.15), (1.0 \* (0.62 \* sqrt(station))))); gauge — a Line \[green\] labelled "delta" drawn in plate (start=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, 0.0), end=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.62 \* sqrt(station))), dashed=True); gauge\_dot — a Point \[green\] drawn in plate (location=(\<VariableNumber station = 5.2\>, (0.62 \* sqrt(station)))); edge — a FunctionPlot \[green\] labelled "delta(x)" drawn in plate (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(0.0, 6.2))

Actions:
- [07:5.969](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=425.9688541666667): gauge is indicated — a transient flash.

##### [07:7.799](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=427.79935416666666)

Narration: And there is the reconciliation with Bernoulli. Outside those five millimetres, viscosity genuinely is negligible and Bernoulli genuinely does work. Inside them, viscosity is everything. The ideal theory was not wrong. It was blind to a thin strip that decides the answer.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [07:26.816](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=446.81635416666666): head\_plate is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [07:26.816](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=446.81635416666666): plate is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [07:26.816](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=446.81635416666666): plate\_body is hidden from the screen — plate left the board.
- [07:26.816](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=446.81635416666666): outer is hidden from the screen — plate left the board.
- [07:26.816](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=446.81635416666666): outer\_2 is hidden from the screen — plate left the board.
- [07:26.816](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=446.81635416666666): profile\_arrows is hidden from the screen — plate left the board.
- [07:26.816](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=446.81635416666666): profile\_arrows\_2 is hidden from the screen — plate left the board.
- [07:26.816](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=446.81635416666666): profile\_arrows\_3 is hidden from the screen — plate left the board.
- [07:26.816](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=446.81635416666666): profile\_arrows\_4 is hidden from the screen — plate left the board.
- [07:26.816](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=446.81635416666666): gauge is hidden from the screen — plate left the board.
- [07:26.816](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=446.81635416666666): gauge\_dot is hidden from the screen — plate left the board.
- [07:26.816](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=446.81635416666666): edge is hidden from the screen — plate left the board.
- [07:26.816](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=446.81635416666666): reynolds is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [07:26.816](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=446.81635416666666): thickness\_law is hidden from the screen — left the board.

##### [07:28.016](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=448.0163541666667)

Narration: One more thing about this layer, and it is the thing the rest of the lecture turns on. Boundary layers come in two kinds. Near the leading edge the layer is laminar: smooth, orderly, sheets of fluid sliding over one another.

Board: Empty.

Actions:
- [07:28.016](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=448.0163541666667): head\_kinds is shown on the screen, written out.
- [07:28.016](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=448.0163541666667): shapes is shown on the screen, written out.
- [07:37.583](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=457.5828541666667): laminar is shown on the screen, drawn.

##### [07:43.222](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=463.2218541666667)

Narration: Further downstream it goes unstable and becomes turbulent: eddies, mixing, fluid tumbling violently between one height and another. On a flat plate the switch happens at a Reynolds number of roughly five hundred thousand.

Board: shapes — an Axes (x\_range=(0.0, 1.15), y\_range=(0.0, 1.15), aspect=(4.0, 3.6)); head\_kinds — a Heading that says "Two Kinds of Boundary Layer"; laminar — a ParametricCurve \[blue\] labelled "upright("laminar")" drawn in shapes (function=\<function\>)

Actions:
- [07:46.148](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=466.14785416666666): turbulent is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [07:53.88](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=473.87985416666663): shapes moves to a new place on the board.
- [07:53.88](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=473.87985416666663): kinds is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [07:58.068](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=478.0678541666667)

Narration: Here the two profiles are drawn against the same axes: speed across the bottom as a fraction of the free stream, height up the side as a fraction of the layer thickness. And the turbulent one is visibly fuller.

Board: kinds — a Block \[text\] that says "Laminar: smooth, layered, almost no mixing Switch near $upright("Re")\_x approx 5 times 10^5$ Turbulent: eddies drag fast fluid to the wall"; shapes — an Axes (x\_range=(0.0, 1.15), y\_range=(0.0, 1.15), aspect=(4.0, 3.6)); head\_kinds — a Heading that says "Two Kinds of Boundary Layer"; laminar — a ParametricCurve \[blue\] labelled "upright("laminar")" drawn in shapes (function=\<function\>); turbulent — a ParametricCurve \[red\] labelled "upright("turbulent")" drawn in shapes (function=\<function\>)

Actions:
- [08:10.293](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=490.29285416666664): turbulent is indicated — a transient flash.

##### [08:11.671](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=491.6708541666667)

Narration: It holds a much higher speed much closer to the wall, because the eddies are continually dragging fast fluid down out of the outer flow and throwing slow fluid back up.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [08:15.653](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=495.65285416666666): fuller is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [08:22.65](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=502.6498541666666)

Narration: That has two consequences, and they point in opposite directions. Look at the two slopes right at the wall. The turbulent one is far steeper, so the friction is higher. But the fluid down near the wall is now carrying a great deal more momentum.

Board: kinds — a Block \[text\] that says "Laminar: smooth, layered, almost no mixing Switch near $upright("Re")\_x approx 5 times 10^5$ Turbulent: eddies drag fast fluid to the wall"; fuller — a Text \[text\] that says "The turbulent profile is fuller, so its wall slope is steeper and its near-wall fluid is faster."; shapes — an Axes (x\_range=(0.0, 1.15), y\_range=(0.0, 1.15), aspect=(4.0, 3.6)); head\_kinds — a Heading that says "Two Kinds of Boundary Layer"; laminar — a ParametricCurve \[blue\] labelled "upright("laminar")" drawn in shapes (function=\<function\>); turbulent — a ParametricCurve \[red\] labelled "upright("turbulent")" drawn in shapes (function=\<function\>)

Actions:
- [08:31.439](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=511.4388541666666): The segment (0.0, 0.0) to (0.74, 0.12) in shapes is lit up.
- [08:31.739](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=511.73885416666667): The segment (0.0, 0.0) to (0.19, 0.12) in shapes is lit up.
- [08:36.919](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=516.9188541666666): shapes: retire a lit segment (unemphasize\_line).
- [08:36.919](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=516.9188541666666): shapes: retire a lit segment (unemphasize\_line).

##### [08:38.738](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=518.7378541666667)

Narration: Hold on to that sentence. A turbulent boundary layer costs you more friction, and buys you more momentum in exactly the place the fluid is about to need it.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [08:48.242](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=528.2415833333333): fuller is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [08:48.242](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=528.2415833333333): head\_kinds is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [08:48.242](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=528.2415833333333): kinds is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [08:48.242](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=528.2415833333333): shapes is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [08:48.242](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=528.2415833333333): laminar is hidden from the screen — shapes left the board.
- [08:48.242](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=528.2415833333333): turbulent is hidden from the screen — shapes left the board.

### Scene 3: [Two Kinds of Drag](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=529.2832500000001)

Span: 08:49.283–12:14.705 (529.2832500000001s–734.7050416666667s).

#### Objects

- head\_cases: a Heading that says "The Same Plate, Turned Ninety Degrees"
- head\_share: a Heading that says "Who Pays Which Bill"
- head\_split: a Heading that says "What a Surface Actually Feels"
- label\_para: a Tex \[text\] that says "Edge on: $C\_D approx 0.005$"
- label\_perp: a Tex \[text\] that says "Face on: $C\_D approx 1.2$"
- para: a Figure (x\_range=(-1.2, 5.3), y\_range=(-1.5, 1.5), aspect=(6.5, 3.0))
- para\_name: a Math \[red\] that says "$tau\_w$" drawn in para
- para\_plate: a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in para (vertices=((0.0, -0.07), (4.3, -0.07), (4.3, 0.07), (0.0, 0.07)), fill\_opacity=0.8)
- para\_shear: a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(0.7, 0.22), end=(1.2, 0.22))
- para\_shear\_2: a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(0.7, -0.22), end=(1.2, -0.22))
- para\_shear\_3: a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(1.7, 0.22), end=(2.2, 0.22))
- para\_shear\_4: a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(1.7, -0.22), end=(2.2, -0.22))
- para\_shear\_5: a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(2.7, 0.22), end=(3.2, 0.22))
- para\_shear\_6: a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(2.7, -0.22), end=(3.2, -0.22))
- para\_shear\_7: a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(3.7, 0.22), end=(4.2, 0.22))
- para\_shear\_8: a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(3.7, -0.22), end=(4.2, -0.22))
- para\_streams: a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, 1.2), end=(5.2, 1.2))
- para\_streams\_2: a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, 0.75), end=(5.2, 0.75))
- para\_streams\_3: a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, -0.75), end=(5.2, -0.75))
- para\_streams\_4: a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, -1.2), end=(5.2, -1.2))
- patch: a Figure (x\_range=(-1.7, 1.7), y\_range=(-1.0, 1.5), aspect=(3.4, 2.5))
- patch\_flow: a Vector \[cyan\] labelled "U" drawn in patch (start=(-1.5, 1.25), end=(-0.65, 1.25))
- perp: a Figure (x\_range=(-2.6, 3.7), y\_range=(-1.9, 1.9), aspect=(6.3, 3.8))
- perp\_high: a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high p")" drawn in perp (location=(-1.0, 1.4), show\_marker=False)
- perp\_layer\_down: a Line \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(0.08, -1.1), end=(3.4, -1.45))
- perp\_layer\_up: a Line \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(0.08, 1.1), end=(3.4, 1.45))
- perp\_low: a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low p")" drawn in perp (location=(1.8, 0.0), show\_marker=False)
- perp\_plate: a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in perp (vertices=((-0.08, -1.1), (0.08, -1.1), (0.08, 1.1), (-0.08, 1.1)), fill\_opacity=0.8)
- perp\_push: a Vector \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(-1.15, 0.6), end=(-0.35, 0.6))
- perp\_push\_2: a Vector \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(-1.15, 0.0), end=(-0.35, 0.0))
- perp\_push\_3: a Vector \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(-1.15, -0.6), end=(-0.35, -0.6))
- perp\_streams: a Line \[cyan\] drawn in perp (start=(-2.5, 1.7), end=(3.6, 1.7))
- perp\_streams\_2: a Line \[cyan\] drawn in perp (start=(-2.5, -1.7), end=(3.6, -1.7))
- perp\_wake: a Polygon \[red\] drawn in perp (vertices=((0.08, 1.1), (3.4, 1.45), (3.4, -1.45), (0.08, -1.1)), fill\_opacity=0.22)
- pressure\_push: a Vector \[red\] labelled "p" drawn in patch (end=(-0.45, 0.9))
- shares: a Table \[text\] that says "Body Friction Pressure Plate, edge on 100% 0% Airfoil 90% 10% Sphere 5% 95% Plate, face on 0% 100%" (rows=(('Body', 'Friction', 'Pressure'), ('Plate, edge on', '100%', '…, header=True)
- shear\_pull: a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "tau\_w" drawn in patch (end=(0.9, 0.45))
- skin: a Line \[gray\] drawn in patch (start=(-1.3, -0.65), end=(1.3, 0.65))
- split\_law: a Math \[text\] that says "$D = D\_f + D\_p$"
- split\_note: a Panel that says "Friction drag is the sum of the tangential stresses along the flow. Pressure drag is the sum of the pressure forces along the flow."
- square: an Angle \[gray\] drawn in patch (sides=((1.3, 0.65), (-0.45, 0.9)), right\_angle=True, radius=0.3)

#### Beats

##### [08:49.283](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=529.2832500000001)

Narration: Before we go anywhere near a sphere, let us be precise about what drag actually is. A body in a stream feels a force on every square millimetre of its surface, and that force always has exactly two parts.

Board: Empty.

Actions:
- [08:49.283](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=529.2832500000001): head\_split is shown on the screen, written out.
- [08:49.283](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=529.2832500000001): patch is shown on the screen, written out.
- [08:55.785](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=535.78525): patch\_flow is shown on the screen, written out.
- [08:58.466](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=538.4662500000001): skin is shown on the screen, drawn.

##### [09:2.678](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=542.6777500000001)

Narration: There is a pressure, pushing straight into the surface at right angles to it. And there is a shear stress, dragging along the surface in the direction the fluid is sliding.

Board: patch — a Figure (x\_range=(-1.7, 1.7), y\_range=(-1.0, 1.5), aspect=(3.4, 2.5)); head\_split — a Heading that says "What a Surface Actually Feels"; skin — a Line \[gray\] drawn in patch (start=(-1.3, -0.65), end=(1.3, 0.65)); patch\_flow — a Vector \[cyan\] labelled "U" drawn in patch (start=(-1.5, 1.25), end=(-0.65, 1.25))

Actions:
- [09:3.362](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=543.36225): pressure\_push is shown on the screen, written out.
- [09:6.23](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=546.2302500000001): square is shown on the screen, written out.
- [09:8.866](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=548.86625): shear\_pull is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [09:14.017](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=554.0167500000001)

Narration: Take the component of each of those along the flow direction, and add them up over the whole body. The tangential parts give you friction drag. The normal parts give you pressure drag, which for historical reasons is also called form drag.

Board: patch — a Figure (x\_range=(-1.7, 1.7), y\_range=(-1.0, 1.5), aspect=(3.4, 2.5)); head\_split — a Heading that says "What a Surface Actually Feels"; skin — a Line \[gray\] drawn in patch (start=(-1.3, -0.65), end=(1.3, 0.65)); patch\_flow — a Vector \[cyan\] labelled "U" drawn in patch (start=(-1.5, 1.25), end=(-0.65, 1.25)); pressure\_push — a Vector \[red\] labelled "p" drawn in patch (end=(-0.45, 0.9)); square — an Angle \[gray\] drawn in patch (sides=((1.3, 0.65), (-0.45, 0.9)), right\_angle=True, radius=0.3); shear\_pull — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "tau\_w" drawn in patch (end=(0.9, 0.45))

Actions:
- [09:17.72](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=557.7202500000001): patch moves to a new place on the board.
- [09:17.72](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=557.7202500000001): split\_law is shown on the screen, written out.
- [09:21.842](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=561.84225): split\_note is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [09:29.641](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=569.64075)

Narration: Those two are not just different terms in a sum. They behave completely differently, and the cleanest way to see that is to take one object and turn it round.

Board: split\_note — a Panel that says "Friction drag is the sum of the tangential stresses along the flow. Pressure drag is the sum of the pressure forces along the flow."; split\_law — a Math \[text\] that says "$D = D\_f + D\_p$"; patch — a Figure (x\_range=(-1.7, 1.7), y\_range=(-1.0, 1.5), aspect=(3.4, 2.5)); head\_split — a Heading that says "What a Surface Actually Feels"; skin — a Line \[gray\] drawn in patch (start=(-1.3, -0.65), end=(1.3, 0.65)); patch\_flow — a Vector \[cyan\] labelled "U" drawn in patch (start=(-1.5, 1.25), end=(-0.65, 1.25)); pressure\_push — a Vector \[red\] labelled "p" drawn in patch (end=(-0.45, 0.9)); square — an Angle \[gray\] drawn in patch (sides=((1.3, 0.65), (-0.45, 0.9)), right\_angle=True, radius=0.3); shear\_pull — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "tau\_w" drawn in patch (end=(0.9, 0.45))

Actions:
- [09:39.462](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=579.46175): head\_split is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [09:39.462](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=579.46175): patch is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [09:39.462](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=579.46175): skin is hidden from the screen — patch left the board.
- [09:39.462](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=579.46175): patch\_flow is hidden from the screen — patch left the board.
- [09:39.462](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=579.46175): pressure\_push is hidden from the screen — patch left the board.
- [09:39.462](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=579.46175): square is hidden from the screen — patch left the board.
- [09:39.462](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=579.46175): shear\_pull is hidden from the screen — patch left the board.
- [09:39.462](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=579.46175): split\_law is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [09:39.462](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=579.46175): split\_note is hidden from the screen — left the board.

##### [09:40.662](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=580.6617500000001)

Narration: Here is a thin flat plate lying edge on, along the flow. The streamlines barely notice it is there. The pressure on the front edge is essentially the pressure on the back edge, so the pressure contribution is almost exactly nothing.

Board: Empty.

Actions:
- [09:40.662](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=580.6617500000001): head\_cases is shown on the screen, written out.
- [09:40.662](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=580.6617500000001): para is shown on the screen, written out.
- [09:45.503](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=585.5032500000001): para\_streams is shown on the screen, written out.
- [09:45.623](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=585.6232500000001): para\_streams\_2 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [09:45.743](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=585.7432500000001): para\_streams\_3 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [09:45.863](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=585.8632500000001): para\_streams\_4 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [09:48.231](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=588.23125): para\_plate is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [09:56.274](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=596.27425)

Narration: But there is a boundary layer growing along both faces, and at every point of both faces the fluid is rubbing. Add up all of that shear and you have the entire drag. This plate is a pure friction body, and its drag coefficient is about five thousandths.

Board: para — a Figure (x\_range=(-1.2, 5.3), y\_range=(-1.5, 1.5), aspect=(6.5, 3.0)); head\_cases — a Heading that says "The Same Plate, Turned Ninety Degrees"; para\_streams — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, 1.2), end=(5.2, 1.2)); para\_streams\_2 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, 0.75), end=(5.2, 0.75)); para\_streams\_3 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, -0.75), end=(5.2, -0.75)); para\_streams\_4 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, -1.2), end=(5.2, -1.2)); para\_plate — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in para (vertices=((0.0, -0.07), (4.3, -0.07), (4.3, 0.07), (0.0, 0.07)), fill\_opacity=0.8)

Actions:
- [10:1.858](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=601.85825): para\_shear is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:1.948](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=601.94825): para\_shear\_2 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:2.038](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=602.0382500000001): para\_shear\_3 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:2.128](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=602.1282500000001): para\_shear\_4 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:2.218](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=602.21825): para\_shear\_5 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:2.308](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=602.30825): para\_shear\_6 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:2.398](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=602.3982500000001): para\_shear\_7 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:2.488](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=602.4882500000001): para\_shear\_8 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:3.959](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=603.9592500000001): para\_name is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:11.68](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=611.6802500000001): para moves to a new place on the board.
- [10:11.68](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=611.6802500000001): label\_para is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [10:13.302](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=613.3017500000001)

Narration: Now turn the same plate through ninety degrees, so it faces the flow squarely. Nothing about the plate has changed. Only its orientation has.

Board: label\_para — a Tex \[text\] that says "Edge on: $C\_D approx 0.005$"; para — a Figure (x\_range=(-1.2, 5.3), y\_range=(-1.5, 1.5), aspect=(6.5, 3.0)); head\_cases — a Heading that says "The Same Plate, Turned Ninety Degrees"; para\_streams — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, 1.2), end=(5.2, 1.2)); para\_streams\_2 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, 0.75), end=(5.2, 0.75)); para\_streams\_3 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, -0.75), end=(5.2, -0.75)); para\_streams\_4 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, -1.2), end=(5.2, -1.2)); para\_plate — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in para (vertices=((0.0, -0.07), (4.3, -0.07), (4.3, 0.07), (0.0, 0.07)), fill\_opacity=0.8); para\_shear — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(0.7, 0.22), end=(1.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_2 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(0.7, -0.22), end=(1.2, -0.22)); para\_shear\_3 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(1.7, 0.22), end=(2.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_4 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(1.7, -0.22), end=(2.2, -0.22)); para\_shear\_5 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(2.7, 0.22), end=(3.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_6 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(2.7, -0.22), end=(3.2, -0.22)); para\_shear\_7 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(3.7, 0.22), end=(4.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_8 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(3.7, -0.22), end=(4.2, -0.22)); para\_name — a Math \[red\] that says "$tau\_w$" drawn in para

Actions:
- [10:13.882](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=613.8822500000001): perp is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:15.334](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=615.3342500000001): perp\_streams is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:15.484](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=615.4842500000001): perp\_streams\_2 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:17.238](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=617.2382500000001): perp\_plate is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [10:23.329](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=623.3292500000001)

Narration: The fluid piles up against the front face and is brought to rest, so the pressure there is high. And it cannot get round those sharp edges at all, so it separates immediately, and the whole of the back face sits inside a wake at low pressure.

Board: label\_para — a Tex \[text\] that says "Edge on: $C\_D approx 0.005$"; para — a Figure (x\_range=(-1.2, 5.3), y\_range=(-1.5, 1.5), aspect=(6.5, 3.0)); perp — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.6, 3.7), y\_range=(-1.9, 1.9), aspect=(6.3, 3.8)); head\_cases — a Heading that says "The Same Plate, Turned Ninety Degrees"; para\_streams — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, 1.2), end=(5.2, 1.2)); para\_streams\_2 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, 0.75), end=(5.2, 0.75)); para\_streams\_3 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, -0.75), end=(5.2, -0.75)); para\_streams\_4 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, -1.2), end=(5.2, -1.2)); para\_plate — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in para (vertices=((0.0, -0.07), (4.3, -0.07), (4.3, 0.07), (0.0, 0.07)), fill\_opacity=0.8); para\_shear — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(0.7, 0.22), end=(1.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_2 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(0.7, -0.22), end=(1.2, -0.22)); para\_shear\_3 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(1.7, 0.22), end=(2.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_4 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(1.7, -0.22), end=(2.2, -0.22)); para\_shear\_5 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(2.7, 0.22), end=(3.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_6 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(2.7, -0.22), end=(3.2, -0.22)); para\_shear\_7 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(3.7, 0.22), end=(4.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_8 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(3.7, -0.22), end=(4.2, -0.22)); para\_name — a Math \[red\] that says "$tau\_w$" drawn in para; perp\_streams — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in perp (start=(-2.5, 1.7), end=(3.6, 1.7)); perp\_streams\_2 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in perp (start=(-2.5, -1.7), end=(3.6, -1.7)); perp\_plate — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in perp (vertices=((-0.08, -1.1), (0.08, -1.1), (0.08, 1.1), (-0.08, 1.1)), fill\_opacity=0.8)

Actions:
- [10:24.269](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=624.26925): perp\_push is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:24.419](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=624.41925): perp\_push\_2 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:24.569](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=624.56925): perp\_push\_3 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:28.472](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=628.47225): perp\_high is shown on the screen, written out.
- [10:31.317](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=631.3172500000001): perp\_layer\_up is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [10:31.517](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=631.5172500000001): perp\_layer\_down is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [10:36.402](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=636.4022500000001): perp\_wake is shown on the screen, faded in.
- [10:37.04](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=637.04025): perp\_low is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [10:38.732](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=638.73175)

Narration: Meanwhile the shear stress on those two faces points up and down, at right angles to the flow, so it contributes precisely nothing to the drag. Every last bit of the force is pressure, and the coefficient has gone from five thousandths to about one point two.

Board: label\_para — a Tex \[text\] that says "Edge on: $C\_D approx 0.005$"; para — a Figure (x\_range=(-1.2, 5.3), y\_range=(-1.5, 1.5), aspect=(6.5, 3.0)); perp — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.6, 3.7), y\_range=(-1.9, 1.9), aspect=(6.3, 3.8)); head\_cases — a Heading that says "The Same Plate, Turned Ninety Degrees"; para\_streams — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, 1.2), end=(5.2, 1.2)); para\_streams\_2 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, 0.75), end=(5.2, 0.75)); para\_streams\_3 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, -0.75), end=(5.2, -0.75)); para\_streams\_4 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, -1.2), end=(5.2, -1.2)); para\_plate — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in para (vertices=((0.0, -0.07), (4.3, -0.07), (4.3, 0.07), (0.0, 0.07)), fill\_opacity=0.8); para\_shear — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(0.7, 0.22), end=(1.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_2 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(0.7, -0.22), end=(1.2, -0.22)); para\_shear\_3 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(1.7, 0.22), end=(2.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_4 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(1.7, -0.22), end=(2.2, -0.22)); para\_shear\_5 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(2.7, 0.22), end=(3.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_6 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(2.7, -0.22), end=(3.2, -0.22)); para\_shear\_7 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(3.7, 0.22), end=(4.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_8 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(3.7, -0.22), end=(4.2, -0.22)); para\_name — a Math \[red\] that says "$tau\_w$" drawn in para; perp\_streams — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in perp (start=(-2.5, 1.7), end=(3.6, 1.7)); perp\_streams\_2 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in perp (start=(-2.5, -1.7), end=(3.6, -1.7)); perp\_plate — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in perp (vertices=((-0.08, -1.1), (0.08, -1.1), (0.08, 1.1), (-0.08, 1.1)), fill\_opacity=0.8); perp\_push — a Vector \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(-1.15, 0.6), end=(-0.35, 0.6)); perp\_push\_2 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(-1.15, 0.0), end=(-0.35, 0.0)); perp\_push\_3 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(-1.15, -0.6), end=(-0.35, -0.6)); perp\_high — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high p")" drawn in perp (location=(-1.0, 1.4), show\_marker=False); perp\_layer\_up — a Line \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(0.08, 1.1), end=(3.4, 1.45)); perp\_layer\_down — a Line \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(0.08, -1.1), end=(3.4, -1.45)); perp\_wake — a Polygon \[red\] drawn in perp (vertices=((0.08, 1.1), (3.4, 1.45), (3.4, -1.45), (0.08, -1.1)), fill\_opacity=0.22); perp\_low — a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low p")" drawn in perp (location=(1.8, 0.0), show\_marker=False)

Actions:
- [10:49.564](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=649.5642500000001): perp\_wake is indicated — a transient flash.
- [10:50.725](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=650.7252500000001): label\_perp is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [10:55.319](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=655.3187500000001)

Narration: Two hundred times the drag, from the same piece of metal. Which tells you that if you want to understand the drag of a real body, the first question is always which of those two bills you are paying.

Board: label\_para — a Tex \[text\] that says "Edge on: $C\_D approx 0.005$"; para — a Figure (x\_range=(-1.2, 5.3), y\_range=(-1.5, 1.5), aspect=(6.5, 3.0)); label\_perp — a Tex \[text\] that says "Face on: $C\_D approx 1.2$"; perp — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.6, 3.7), y\_range=(-1.9, 1.9), aspect=(6.3, 3.8)); head\_cases — a Heading that says "The Same Plate, Turned Ninety Degrees"; para\_streams — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, 1.2), end=(5.2, 1.2)); para\_streams\_2 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, 0.75), end=(5.2, 0.75)); para\_streams\_3 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, -0.75), end=(5.2, -0.75)); para\_streams\_4 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in para (start=(-1.1, -1.2), end=(5.2, -1.2)); para\_plate — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in para (vertices=((0.0, -0.07), (4.3, -0.07), (4.3, 0.07), (0.0, 0.07)), fill\_opacity=0.8); para\_shear — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(0.7, 0.22), end=(1.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_2 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(0.7, -0.22), end=(1.2, -0.22)); para\_shear\_3 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(1.7, 0.22), end=(2.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_4 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(1.7, -0.22), end=(2.2, -0.22)); para\_shear\_5 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(2.7, 0.22), end=(3.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_6 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(2.7, -0.22), end=(3.2, -0.22)); para\_shear\_7 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(3.7, 0.22), end=(4.2, 0.22)); para\_shear\_8 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in para (start=(3.7, -0.22), end=(4.2, -0.22)); para\_name — a Math \[red\] that says "$tau\_w$" drawn in para; perp\_streams — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in perp (start=(-2.5, 1.7), end=(3.6, 1.7)); perp\_streams\_2 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in perp (start=(-2.5, -1.7), end=(3.6, -1.7)); perp\_plate — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in perp (vertices=((-0.08, -1.1), (0.08, -1.1), (0.08, 1.1), (-0.08, 1.1)), fill\_opacity=0.8); perp\_push — a Vector \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(-1.15, 0.6), end=(-0.35, 0.6)); perp\_push\_2 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(-1.15, 0.0), end=(-0.35, 0.0)); perp\_push\_3 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(-1.15, -0.6), end=(-0.35, -0.6)); perp\_high — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high p")" drawn in perp (location=(-1.0, 1.4), show\_marker=False); perp\_layer\_up — a Line \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(0.08, 1.1), end=(3.4, 1.45)); perp\_layer\_down — a Line \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(0.08, -1.1), end=(3.4, -1.45)); perp\_wake — a Polygon \[red\] drawn in perp (vertices=((0.08, 1.1), (3.4, 1.45), (3.4, -1.45), (0.08, -1.1)), fill\_opacity=0.22); perp\_low — a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low p")" drawn in perp (location=(1.8, 0.0), show\_marker=False)

Actions:
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): perp moves to a new place on the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): head\_cases is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): label\_para is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): label\_perp is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): para is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): para\_streams is hidden from the screen — para left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): para\_streams\_2 is hidden from the screen — para left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): para\_streams\_3 is hidden from the screen — para left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): para\_streams\_4 is hidden from the screen — para left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): para\_plate is hidden from the screen — para left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): para\_shear is hidden from the screen — para left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): para\_shear\_2 is hidden from the screen — para left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): para\_shear\_3 is hidden from the screen — para left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): para\_shear\_4 is hidden from the screen — para left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): para\_shear\_5 is hidden from the screen — para left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): para\_shear\_6 is hidden from the screen — para left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): para\_shear\_7 is hidden from the screen — para left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): para\_shear\_8 is hidden from the screen — para left the board.
- [11:6.417](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=666.4172500000001): para\_name is hidden from the screen — para left the board.

##### [11:7.617](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=667.61725)

Narration: So here is the split for a few bodies. The columns are the fraction of the total drag paid as friction, and the fraction paid as pressure.

Board: perp — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.6, 3.7), y\_range=(-1.9, 1.9), aspect=(6.3, 3.8)); perp\_streams — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in perp (start=(-2.5, 1.7), end=(3.6, 1.7)); perp\_streams\_2 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in perp (start=(-2.5, -1.7), end=(3.6, -1.7)); perp\_plate — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in perp (vertices=((-0.08, -1.1), (0.08, -1.1), (0.08, 1.1), (-0.08, 1.1)), fill\_opacity=0.8); perp\_push — a Vector \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(-1.15, 0.6), end=(-0.35, 0.6)); perp\_push\_2 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(-1.15, 0.0), end=(-0.35, 0.0)); perp\_push\_3 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(-1.15, -0.6), end=(-0.35, -0.6)); perp\_high — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high p")" drawn in perp (location=(-1.0, 1.4), show\_marker=False); perp\_layer\_up — a Line \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(0.08, 1.1), end=(3.4, 1.45)); perp\_layer\_down — a Line \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(0.08, -1.1), end=(3.4, -1.45)); perp\_wake — a Polygon \[red\] drawn in perp (vertices=((0.08, 1.1), (3.4, 1.45), (3.4, -1.45), (0.08, -1.1)), fill\_opacity=0.22); perp\_low — a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low p")" drawn in perp (location=(1.8, 0.0), show\_marker=False)

Actions:
- [11:7.617](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=667.61725): head\_share is shown on the screen, written out.
- [11:10.868](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=670.8682500000001): shares is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [11:17.122](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=677.1222500000001)

Narration: The plate edge on, as we said, is a hundred percent friction. A well made airfoil is close behind it, around ninety percent friction, because it is shaped precisely so that the flow stays attached all the way to the trailing edge.

Board: perp — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.6, 3.7), y\_range=(-1.9, 1.9), aspect=(6.3, 3.8)); perp\_streams — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in perp (start=(-2.5, 1.7), end=(3.6, 1.7)); perp\_streams\_2 — a Line \[cyan\] drawn in perp (start=(-2.5, -1.7), end=(3.6, -1.7)); perp\_plate — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in perp (vertices=((-0.08, -1.1), (0.08, -1.1), (0.08, 1.1), (-0.08, 1.1)), fill\_opacity=0.8); perp\_push — a Vector \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(-1.15, 0.6), end=(-0.35, 0.6)); perp\_push\_2 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(-1.15, 0.0), end=(-0.35, 0.0)); perp\_push\_3 — a Vector \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(-1.15, -0.6), end=(-0.35, -0.6)); perp\_high — a Point \[red\] labelled "upright("high p")" drawn in perp (location=(-1.0, 1.4), show\_marker=False); perp\_layer\_up — a Line \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(0.08, 1.1), end=(3.4, 1.45)); perp\_layer\_down — a Line \[red\] drawn in perp (start=(0.08, -1.1), end=(3.4, -1.45)); perp\_wake — a Polygon \[red\] drawn in perp (vertices=((0.08, 1.1), (3.4, 1.45), (3.4, -1.45), (0.08, -1.1)), fill\_opacity=0.22); perp\_low — a Point \[green\] labelled "upright("low p")" drawn in perp (location=(1.8, 0.0), show\_marker=False); head\_share — a Heading that says "Who Pays Which Bill"

Actions:
- [11:17.9](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=677.9002500000001): shares is shown on the screen, written out.
- [11:22.811](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=682.8112500000001): shares is shown on the screen, written out.
- [11:29.475](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=689.4752500000001): shares (the "row=3" part) is emphasized.
- [11:32.041](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=692.0407500000001): shares (the "row=3" part) is no longer emphasized.

##### [11:32.641](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=692.64075)

Narration: And now look at the sphere. Roughly five percent friction, ninety five percent pressure. A sphere is much closer to a plate held face on than it is to an airfoil, which is not what most people expect from something so smooth and rounded.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [11:33.859](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=693.85925): shares is shown on the screen, written out.
- [11:36.924](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=696.92425): shares (the "row=4" part) is emphasized.
- [11:40.628](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=700.62825): shares is shown on the screen, written out.
- [11:41.209](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=701.20925): shares (the "row=5" part) is emphasized.
- [11:45.69](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=705.6902500000001): shares (the "row=4" part) is no longer emphasized.
- [11:45.69](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=705.6902500000001): shares (the "row=5" part) is no longer emphasized.

##### [11:47.811](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=707.8112500000001)

Narration: So for a sphere, and for most of the blunt objects you actually care about, friction is a rounding error. The drag is pressure drag. Pressure drag is set by the wake. And the wake is set by one thing only: where the boundary layer lets go of the surface.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [11:58.574](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=718.5742500000001): perp\_wake is indicated — a transient flash.

##### [12:5.724](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=725.7237500000001)

Narration: Which means that separation, that one decision the fluid makes, is the whole game. So let us go and watch it happen.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [12:13.663](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=733.6633750000001): head\_share is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [12:13.663](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=733.6633750000001): perp is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [12:13.663](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=733.6633750000001): perp\_streams is hidden from the screen — perp left the board.
- [12:13.663](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=733.6633750000001): perp\_streams\_2 is hidden from the screen — perp left the board.
- [12:13.663](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=733.6633750000001): perp\_plate is hidden from the screen — perp left the board.
- [12:13.663](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=733.6633750000001): perp\_push is hidden from the screen — perp left the board.
- [12:13.663](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=733.6633750000001): perp\_push\_2 is hidden from the screen — perp left the board.
- [12:13.663](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=733.6633750000001): perp\_push\_3 is hidden from the screen — perp left the board.
- [12:13.663](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=733.6633750000001): perp\_high is hidden from the screen — perp left the board.
- [12:13.663](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=733.6633750000001): perp\_layer\_up is hidden from the screen — perp left the board.
- [12:13.663](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=733.6633750000001): perp\_layer\_down is hidden from the screen — perp left the board.
- [12:13.663](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=733.6633750000001): perp\_wake is hidden from the screen — perp left the board.
- [12:13.663](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=733.6633750000001): perp\_low is hidden from the screen — perp left the board.
- [12:13.663](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=733.6633750000001): shares is hidden from the screen — left the board.

### Scene 4: [Separation, and the Wake It Leaves](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=734.7050416666667)

Span: 12:14.705–17:22.576 (734.7050416666667s–1042.5762916666667s).

#### Objects

- adverse: a Panel that says "Past the equator the pressure rises as you move downstream. The fluid must climb that rise, and only its own momentum can pay for it."
- angle\_l: an Angle \[yellow\] labelled "82 degree" drawn in sphere\_lam (sides=((-1.0, 0.0), (-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704)), radius=0.45)
- angle\_t: an Angle \[green\] labelled "120 degree" drawn in sphere\_turb (sides=((-1.0, 0.0), (0.5000000000000001, 0.8660254037844386)), radius=0.45)
- ball\_l: a Circle \[blue\] drawn in sphere\_lam (filled=True)
- ball\_t: a Circle \[blue\] drawn in sphere\_turb (filled=True)
- cp\_axes: an Axes (x\_range=(0.0, 182.0), y\_range=(-3.4, 1.4), aspect=(5.0, 3.6))
- cp\_ideal: a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] labelled "upright("ideal")" drawn in cp\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(0.0, 180.0))
- cp\_law: a Math \[text\] that says "$C\_p = frac(p - p\_infinity, frac(1, 2) rho U^2)$"
- cp\_real: a FunctionPlot \[red\] labelled "upright("measured")" drawn in cp\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(0.0, 180.0))
- equator: a Line \[gray\] drawn in cp\_axes (start=(90.0, -3.3), end=(90.0, 1.3), dashed=True)
- head\_ball: a Heading that says "Where the Real Flow Lets Go"
- head\_cp: a Heading that says "The Pressure Around a Sphere"
- head\_sep: a Heading that says "How a Boundary Layer Gives Up"
- head\_two: a Heading that says "Laminar Separation, Turbulent Separation"
- inflow\_l: a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-2.2, 1.65), end=(-1.4, 1.65))
- inflow\_t: a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in sphere\_turb (start=(-2.2, 1.65), end=(-1.4, 1.65))
- label\_lam: a Tex \[text\] that says "Laminar layer: wide wake"
- label\_turb: a Tex \[text\] that says "Turbulent layer: narrow wake"
- mark\_l: a Point \[yellow\] labelled "S" drawn in sphere\_lam (location=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704))
- mark\_l2: a Point \[yellow\] drawn in sphere\_lam (location=(-0.13917310096006535, -0.9902680687415704))
- mark\_t: a Point \[green\] labelled "S" drawn in sphere\_turb (location=(0.5000000000000001, 0.8660254037844386))
- mark\_t2: a Point \[green\] drawn in sphere\_turb (location=(0.5000000000000001, -0.8660254037844386))
- nose\_l: a Line \[gray\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-1.0, 0.0), dashed=True)
- nose\_t: a Line \[gray\] drawn in sphere\_turb (end=(-1.0, 0.0), dashed=True)
- point: a Point \[yellow\] drawn in cp\_axes (location=(45.0, -1.0))
- point\_2: a Point \[yellow\] drawn in cp\_axes (location=(135.0, -1.0))
- point\_3: a Point \[yellow\] drawn in cp\_axes (location=(80.0, -1.91))
- sep\_caption: a Tex \[text\] that says "Healthy, then zero slope at the wall, then reversed: the flow has left."
- sep\_fig: a Figure (x\_range=(-0.5, 5.7), y\_range=(-0.45, 2.15), aspect=(6.2, 2.6))
- sep\_point: a Point \[yellow\] labelled "S" drawn in sep\_fig (location=(2.5, 0.0))
- sep\_profiles: a ParametricCurve \[blue\] drawn in sep\_fig (function=\<function\>)
- sep\_profiles\_2: a ParametricCurve \[yellow\] drawn in sep\_fig (function=\<function\>)
- sep\_profiles\_3: a ParametricCurve \[red\] drawn in sep\_fig (function=\<function\>)
- sep\_rise: a Vector \[red\] labelled "upright("p rising")" drawn in sep\_fig (start=(0.7, 1.85), end=(4.6, 1.85))
- sep\_rules: a Line \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (start=(0.9, 0.0), end=(0.9, 1.35), dashed=True)
- sep\_rules\_2: a Line \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (start=(2.5, 0.0), end=(2.5, 1.35), dashed=True)
- sep\_rules\_3: a Line \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (start=(4.1, 0.0), end=(4.1, 1.35), dashed=True)
- sep\_wall: a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (vertices=((-0.4, -0.4), (5.5, -0.4), (5.5, 0.0), (-0.4, 0.0)), fill\_opacity=0.55)
- shear\_l: a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), end=(3.5, 1.62))
- shear\_l2: a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-0.13917310096006535, -0.9902680687415704), end=(3.5, -1.62))
- shear\_t: a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_turb (start=(0.5000000000000001, 0.8660254037844386), end=(3.5, 1.02))
- shear\_t2: a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_turb (start=(0.5000000000000001, -0.8660254037844386), end=(3.5, -1.02))
- sphere\_lam: a Figure (x\_range=(-2.3, 3.7), y\_range=(-2.0, 2.0), aspect=(6.0, 4.0))
- sphere\_turb: a Figure (x\_range=(-2.3, 3.7), y\_range=(-2.0, 2.0), aspect=(6.0, 4.0))
- spoke\_l: a Line \[yellow\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), dashed=True)
- spoke\_t: a Line \[green\] drawn in sphere\_turb (end=(0.5000000000000001, 0.8660254037844386), dashed=True)
- wake\_l: a Polygon \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (vertices=((-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), (3.5, 1.62), (3.5,…, fill\_opacity=0.22)
- wake\_rule: a Tex \[text\] that says "Wider wake, more pressure drag. Later separation, less of it."
- wake\_t: a Polygon \[red\] drawn in sphere\_turb (vertices=((0.5000000000000001, 0.8660254037844386), (3.5, 1.02), (3.5, -…, fill\_opacity=0.22)

#### Beats

##### [12:14.705](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=734.7050416666667)

Narration: Let us look at the pressure a sphere feels, all the way around its surface. Along the bottom is the angle measured from the front stagnation point, in degrees, so zero is the nose, ninety is the equator, and a hundred and eighty is the very back.

Board: Empty.

Actions:
- [12:14.705](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=734.7050416666667): head\_cp is shown on the screen, written out.
- [12:14.705](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=734.7050416666667): cp\_axes is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [12:30.665](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=750.6650416666668)

Narration: Up the side is the pressure coefficient, which is just the pressure measured against the pressure far away and scaled by one half rho U squared. One means fully stopped fluid. Zero means the pressure of the undisturbed stream.

Board: cp\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(0.0, 182.0), y\_range=(-3.4, 1.4), aspect=(5.0, 3.6)); head\_cp — a Heading that says "The Pressure Around a Sphere"

Actions:
- [12:32.58](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=752.5800416666667): cp\_axes moves to a new place on the board.
- [12:32.58](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=752.5800416666667): cp\_law is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [12:46.544](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=766.5435416666667)

Narration: The pale curve is what Bernoulli predicts. Coefficient one at the nose, falling as the fluid accelerates round the shoulder, a minimum of minus three at the equator, and then climbing all the way back up to one at the tail. Perfectly symmetric, and it integrates to nothing.

Board: cp\_law — a Math \[text\] that says "$C\_p = frac(p - p\_infinity, frac(1, 2) rho U^2)$"; cp\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(0.0, 182.0), y\_range=(-3.4, 1.4), aspect=(5.0, 3.6)); head\_cp — a Heading that says "The Pressure Around a Sphere"

Actions:
- [12:47.101](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=767.1010416666667): cp\_ideal is shown on the screen, drawn.

##### [13:3.839](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=783.8385416666667)

Narration: Now split it at the equator. From the nose out to ninety degrees the pressure is falling as you move downstream. That is called a favourable gradient: the fluid is being pushed along, running downhill.

Board: cp\_law — a Math \[text\] that says "$C\_p = frac(p - p\_infinity, frac(1, 2) rho U^2)$"; cp\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(0.0, 182.0), y\_range=(-3.4, 1.4), aspect=(5.0, 3.6)); head\_cp — a Heading that says "The Pressure Around a Sphere"; cp\_ideal — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] labelled "upright("ideal")" drawn in cp\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(0.0, 180.0))

Actions:
- [13:4.5](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=784.5000416666667): equator is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [13:15.472](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=795.4720416666667): point is shown on the screen, grown.

##### [13:17.082](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=797.0815416666667)

Narration: But from the equator to the tail, the pressure rises as you move downstream. That is an adverse gradient, and now the fluid is being asked to climb.

Board: cp\_law — a Math \[text\] that says "$C\_p = frac(p - p\_infinity, frac(1, 2) rho U^2)$"; cp\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(0.0, 182.0), y\_range=(-3.4, 1.4), aspect=(5.0, 3.6)); head\_cp — a Heading that says "The Pressure Around a Sphere"; cp\_ideal — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] labelled "upright("ideal")" drawn in cp\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(0.0, 180.0)); equator — a Line \[gray\] drawn in cp\_axes (start=(90.0, -3.3), end=(90.0, 1.3), dashed=True); point — a Point \[yellow\] drawn in cp\_axes (location=(45.0, -1.0))

Actions:
- [13:17.472](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=797.4720416666667): point is hidden from the screen.
- [13:23.014](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=803.0140416666667): adverse is shown on the screen, written out.
- [13:25.685](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=805.6850416666667): point\_2 is shown on the screen, grown.

##### [13:27.4](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=807.3995416666667)

Narration: Out in the free stream the climb is easy. That fluid arrives at the equator moving fast, with plenty of kinetic energy to trade back for pressure. But down in the boundary layer, right against the surface, the fluid has already given most of its speed away to friction.

Board: cp\_law — a Math \[text\] that says "$C\_p = frac(p - p\_infinity, frac(1, 2) rho U^2)$"; adverse — a Panel that says "Past the equator the pressure rises as you move downstream. The fluid must climb that rise, and only its own momentum can pay for it."; cp\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(0.0, 182.0), y\_range=(-3.4, 1.4), aspect=(5.0, 3.6)); head\_cp — a Heading that says "The Pressure Around a Sphere"; cp\_ideal — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] labelled "upright("ideal")" drawn in cp\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(0.0, 180.0)); equator — a Line \[gray\] drawn in cp\_axes (start=(90.0, -3.3), end=(90.0, 1.3), dashed=True); point\_2 — a Point \[yellow\] drawn in cp\_axes (location=(135.0, -1.0))

Actions:
- [13:27.685](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=807.6850416666667): point\_2 is hidden from the screen.
- [13:28.63](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=808.6300416666667): cp\_ideal is indicated — a transient flash.

##### [13:43.348](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=823.3480416666667)

Narration: It arrives at the hill with almost nothing in the tank. And here is what is actually measured on a real sphere. It follows the ideal curve round the front, and then, at about eighty degrees, it simply stops following it and goes flat.

Board: cp\_law — a Math \[text\] that says "$C\_p = frac(p - p\_infinity, frac(1, 2) rho U^2)$"; adverse — a Panel that says "Past the equator the pressure rises as you move downstream. The fluid must climb that rise, and only its own momentum can pay for it."; cp\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(0.0, 182.0), y\_range=(-3.4, 1.4), aspect=(5.0, 3.6)); head\_cp — a Heading that says "The Pressure Around a Sphere"; cp\_ideal — a FunctionPlot \[cyan\] labelled "upright("ideal")" drawn in cp\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(0.0, 180.0)); equator — a Line \[gray\] drawn in cp\_axes (start=(90.0, -3.3), end=(90.0, 1.3), dashed=True)

Actions:
- [13:48.41](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=828.4100416666668): cp\_real is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [13:53.681](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=833.6810416666667): point\_3 is shown on the screen, grown.
- [13:55.681](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=835.6810416666667): point\_3 is hidden from the screen.
- [13:57.489](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=837.4885416666667): adverse is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [13:57.489](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=837.4885416666667): cp\_axes is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [13:57.489](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=837.4885416666667): cp\_ideal is hidden from the screen — cp\_axes left the board.
- [13:57.489](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=837.4885416666667): equator is hidden from the screen — cp\_axes left the board.
- [13:57.489](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=837.4885416666667): cp\_real is hidden from the screen — cp\_axes left the board.
- [13:57.489](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=837.4885416666667): cp\_law is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [13:57.489](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=837.4885416666667): head\_cp is hidden from the screen — left the board.

##### [13:58.689](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=838.6885416666667)

Narration: So let me draw what a rising pressure does to a boundary layer. Here is a wall, with the pressure increasing to the right, and three velocity profiles at three places along it.

Board: Empty.

Actions:
- [13:58.689](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=838.6885416666667): head\_sep is shown on the screen, written out.
- [13:58.689](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=838.6885416666667): sep\_fig is shown on the screen, written out.
- [14:3.878](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=843.8780416666667): sep\_wall is shown on the screen, written out.
- [14:5.132](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=845.1320416666667): sep\_rise is shown on the screen, written out.
- [14:8.29](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=848.2900416666668): sep\_rules is shown on the screen, written out.
- [14:8.47](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=848.4700416666667): sep\_rules\_2 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [14:8.65](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=848.6500416666668): sep\_rules\_3 is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [14:10.086](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=850.0855416666667)

Narration: The first one is healthy. It has a good steep slope at the wall, the fluid down there is still moving forward, and the layer is firmly attached.

Board: sep\_fig — a Figure (x\_range=(-0.5, 5.7), y\_range=(-0.45, 2.15), aspect=(6.2, 2.6)); head\_sep — a Heading that says "How a Boundary Layer Gives Up"; sep\_wall — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (vertices=((-0.4, -0.4), (5.5, -0.4), (5.5, 0.0), (-0.4, 0.0)), fill\_opacity=0.55); sep\_rise — a Vector \[red\] labelled "upright("p rising")" drawn in sep\_fig (start=(0.7, 1.85), end=(4.6, 1.85)); sep\_rules — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (start=(0.9, 0.0), end=(0.9, 1.35), dashed=True); sep\_rules\_2 — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (start=(2.5, 0.0), end=(2.5, 1.35), dashed=True); sep\_rules\_3 — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (start=(4.1, 0.0), end=(4.1, 1.35), dashed=True)

Actions:
- [14:11.096](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=851.0960416666667): sep\_profiles is shown on the screen, drawn.

##### [14:18.998](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=858.9980416666667)

Narration: A little further along, the rising pressure has been pushing back on that slow near-wall fluid the whole way, and the slope at the wall has been squeezed down to exactly zero. That point, where the wall slope vanishes, is the separation point.

Board: sep\_fig — a Figure (x\_range=(-0.5, 5.7), y\_range=(-0.45, 2.15), aspect=(6.2, 2.6)); head\_sep — a Heading that says "How a Boundary Layer Gives Up"; sep\_wall — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (vertices=((-0.4, -0.4), (5.5, -0.4), (5.5, 0.0), (-0.4, 0.0)), fill\_opacity=0.55); sep\_rise — a Vector \[red\] labelled "upright("p rising")" drawn in sep\_fig (start=(0.7, 1.85), end=(4.6, 1.85)); sep\_rules — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (start=(0.9, 0.0), end=(0.9, 1.35), dashed=True); sep\_rules\_2 — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (start=(2.5, 0.0), end=(2.5, 1.35), dashed=True); sep\_rules\_3 — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (start=(4.1, 0.0), end=(4.1, 1.35), dashed=True); sep\_profiles — a ParametricCurve \[blue\] drawn in sep\_fig (function=\<function\>)

Actions:
- [14:26.847](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=866.8470416666667): sep\_profiles\_2 is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [14:32.141](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=872.1410416666668): sep\_point is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [14:34.157](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=874.1570416666667)

Narration: And just past it, the near-wall fluid has actually been driven backwards. The flow reverses, that reversed fluid wedges underneath the layer and lifts it clean off the surface, and the outer flow can no longer follow the body at all.

Board: sep\_fig — a Figure (x\_range=(-0.5, 5.7), y\_range=(-0.45, 2.15), aspect=(6.2, 2.6)); head\_sep — a Heading that says "How a Boundary Layer Gives Up"; sep\_wall — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (vertices=((-0.4, -0.4), (5.5, -0.4), (5.5, 0.0), (-0.4, 0.0)), fill\_opacity=0.55); sep\_rise — a Vector \[red\] labelled "upright("p rising")" drawn in sep\_fig (start=(0.7, 1.85), end=(4.6, 1.85)); sep\_rules — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (start=(0.9, 0.0), end=(0.9, 1.35), dashed=True); sep\_rules\_2 — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (start=(2.5, 0.0), end=(2.5, 1.35), dashed=True); sep\_rules\_3 — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (start=(4.1, 0.0), end=(4.1, 1.35), dashed=True); sep\_profiles — a ParametricCurve \[blue\] drawn in sep\_fig (function=\<function\>); sep\_profiles\_2 — a ParametricCurve \[yellow\] drawn in sep\_fig (function=\<function\>); sep\_point — a Point \[yellow\] labelled "S" drawn in sep\_fig (location=(2.5, 0.0))

Actions:
- [14:37.57](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=877.5700416666667): sep\_profiles\_3 is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [14:42.598](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=882.5980416666667): sep\_caption is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [14:47.923](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=887.9225416666667)

Narration: So separation is not the fluid failing to turn a corner. It is the fluid near the wall running out of momentum while it is being asked to climb a pressure hill. Which tells you immediately what would help: more momentum near the wall.

Board: sep\_fig — a Figure (x\_range=(-0.5, 5.7), y\_range=(-0.45, 2.15), aspect=(6.2, 2.6)); sep\_caption — a Tex \[text\] that says "Healthy, then zero slope at the wall, then reversed: the flow has left."; head\_sep — a Heading that says "How a Boundary Layer Gives Up"; sep\_wall — a Polygon \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (vertices=((-0.4, -0.4), (5.5, -0.4), (5.5, 0.0), (-0.4, 0.0)), fill\_opacity=0.55); sep\_rise — a Vector \[red\] labelled "upright("p rising")" drawn in sep\_fig (start=(0.7, 1.85), end=(4.6, 1.85)); sep\_rules — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (start=(0.9, 0.0), end=(0.9, 1.35), dashed=True); sep\_rules\_2 — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (start=(2.5, 0.0), end=(2.5, 1.35), dashed=True); sep\_rules\_3 — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sep\_fig (start=(4.1, 0.0), end=(4.1, 1.35), dashed=True); sep\_profiles — a ParametricCurve \[blue\] drawn in sep\_fig (function=\<function\>); sep\_profiles\_2 — a ParametricCurve \[yellow\] drawn in sep\_fig (function=\<function\>); sep\_point — a Point \[yellow\] labelled "S" drawn in sep\_fig (location=(2.5, 0.0)); sep\_profiles\_3 — a ParametricCurve \[red\] drawn in sep\_fig (function=\<function\>)

Actions:
- [14:54.076](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=894.0760416666667): sep\_profiles\_2 is indicated — a transient flash.
- [15:2.447](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=902.4470416666667): head\_sep is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [15:2.447](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=902.4470416666667): sep\_caption is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [15:2.447](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=902.4470416666667): sep\_fig is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [15:2.447](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=902.4470416666667): sep\_wall is hidden from the screen — sep\_fig left the board.
- [15:2.447](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=902.4470416666667): sep\_rise is hidden from the screen — sep\_fig left the board.
- [15:2.447](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=902.4470416666667): sep\_rules is hidden from the screen — sep\_fig left the board.
- [15:2.447](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=902.4470416666667): sep\_rules\_2 is hidden from the screen — sep\_fig left the board.
- [15:2.447](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=902.4470416666667): sep\_rules\_3 is hidden from the screen — sep\_fig left the board.
- [15:2.447](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=902.4470416666667): sep\_profiles is hidden from the screen — sep\_fig left the board.
- [15:2.447](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=902.4470416666667): sep\_profiles\_2 is hidden from the screen — sep\_fig left the board.
- [15:2.447](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=902.4470416666667): sep\_point is hidden from the screen — sep\_fig left the board.
- [15:2.447](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=902.4470416666667): sep\_profiles\_3 is hidden from the screen — sep\_fig left the board.

##### [15:3.647](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=903.6470416666667)

Narration: On a real sphere at ordinary speeds, with a laminar boundary layer, that happens about eighty degrees from the nose. Just before the widest point, and well short of the back.

Board: Empty.

Actions:
- [15:3.647](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=903.6470416666667): head\_ball is shown on the screen, written out.
- [15:3.647](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=903.6470416666667): sphere\_lam is shown on the screen, written out.
- [15:4.611](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=904.6110416666668): ball\_l is shown on the screen, written out.
- [15:5.574](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=905.5740416666667): inflow\_l is shown on the screen, written out.
- [15:9.789](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=909.7890416666668): nose\_l is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [15:11.333](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=911.3330416666668): spoke\_l is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [15:13.237](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=913.2370416666668): angle\_l is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [15:14.568](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=914.5680416666667)

Narration: Downstream of that point the flow leaves the surface along these two lines, and the whole region they enclose is the wake. Broad, slow, and sitting at roughly the low pressure the fluid happened to have at the moment it let go.

Board: sphere\_lam — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.3, 3.7), y\_range=(-2.0, 2.0), aspect=(6.0, 4.0)); head\_ball — a Heading that says "Where the Real Flow Lets Go"; ball\_l — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in sphere\_lam (filled=True); inflow\_l — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-2.2, 1.65), end=(-1.4, 1.65)); nose\_l — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-1.0, 0.0), dashed=True); spoke\_l — a Line \[yellow\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), dashed=True); angle\_l — an Angle \[yellow\] labelled "82 degree" drawn in sphere\_lam (sides=((-1.0, 0.0), (-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704)), radius=0.45)

Actions:
- [15:15.752](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=915.7520416666667): mark\_l is shown on the screen, written out.
- [15:15.952](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=915.9520416666667): mark\_l2 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [15:17.854](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=917.8540416666667): shear\_l is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [15:18.054](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=918.0540416666668): shear\_l2 is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [15:20.28](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=920.2800416666668): wake\_l is shown on the screen, faded in.

##### [15:28.45](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=928.4495416666667)

Narration: That is why the measured pressure curve went flat. Over the whole of the back of the sphere the pressure never recovers, because after separation there is no orderly deceleration left to recover it with. High at the nose, low across the entire rear, and the difference is the drag.

Board: sphere\_lam — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.3, 3.7), y\_range=(-2.0, 2.0), aspect=(6.0, 4.0)); head\_ball — a Heading that says "Where the Real Flow Lets Go"; ball\_l — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in sphere\_lam (filled=True); inflow\_l — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-2.2, 1.65), end=(-1.4, 1.65)); nose\_l — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-1.0, 0.0), dashed=True); spoke\_l — a Line \[yellow\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), dashed=True); angle\_l — an Angle \[yellow\] labelled "82 degree" drawn in sphere\_lam (sides=((-1.0, 0.0), (-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704)), radius=0.45); mark\_l — a Point \[yellow\] labelled "S" drawn in sphere\_lam (location=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704)); mark\_l2 — a Point \[yellow\] drawn in sphere\_lam (location=(-0.13917310096006535, -0.9902680687415704)); shear\_l — a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), end=(3.5, 1.62)); shear\_l2 — a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-0.13917310096006535, -0.9902680687415704), end=(3.5, -1.62)); wake\_l — a Polygon \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (vertices=((-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), (3.5, 1.62), (3.5,…, fill\_opacity=0.22)

Actions:
- [15:44.251](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=944.2510416666668): wake\_l is indicated — a transient flash.

##### [15:45.664](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=945.6635416666667)

Narration: So here is the sentence this whole lecture has been walking towards. The wider the wake, the bigger the drag. Anything that pushes the separation point further round towards the back narrows that wake, and cuts the drag.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [15:49.704](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=949.7040416666667): sphere\_lam moves to a new place on the board.
- [15:49.704](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=949.7040416666667): wake\_rule is shown on the screen, written out.
- [15:58.609](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=958.6085416666667): sphere\_lam moves to a new place on the board.
- [15:58.609](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=958.6085416666667): head\_ball is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [15:58.609](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=958.6085416666667): wake\_rule is hidden from the screen — left the board.

##### [15:59.809](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=959.8085416666668)

Narration: So put the two cases next to each other. On the left is the one we have just drawn: the boundary layer is still laminar when it meets the adverse gradient, its near-wall fluid is slow, and it gives up at eighty degrees.

Board: sphere\_lam — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.3, 3.7), y\_range=(-2.0, 2.0), aspect=(6.0, 4.0)); ball\_l — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in sphere\_lam (filled=True); inflow\_l — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-2.2, 1.65), end=(-1.4, 1.65)); nose\_l — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-1.0, 0.0), dashed=True); spoke\_l — a Line \[yellow\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), dashed=True); angle\_l — an Angle \[yellow\] labelled "82 degree" drawn in sphere\_lam (sides=((-1.0, 0.0), (-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704)), radius=0.45); mark\_l — a Point \[yellow\] labelled "S" drawn in sphere\_lam (location=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704)); mark\_l2 — a Point \[yellow\] drawn in sphere\_lam (location=(-0.13917310096006535, -0.9902680687415704)); shear\_l — a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), end=(3.5, 1.62)); shear\_l2 — a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-0.13917310096006535, -0.9902680687415704), end=(3.5, -1.62)); wake\_l — a Polygon \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (vertices=((-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), (3.5, 1.62), (3.5,…, fill\_opacity=0.22)

Actions:
- [15:59.809](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=959.8085416666668): head\_two is shown on the screen, written out.
- [15:59.809](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=959.8085416666668): sphere\_turb is shown on the screen, written out.
- [16:0.819](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=960.8190416666667): ball\_t is shown on the screen, written out.
- [16:1.019](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=961.0190416666668): inflow\_t is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [16:13.481](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=973.4810416666667)

Narration: On the right, everything about the sphere is identical, but the boundary layer has already gone turbulent before it arrives. Remember what that does to the profile: the eddies are constantly dragging fast fluid down out of the free stream and into the slow region at the wall.

Board: sphere\_lam — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.3, 3.7), y\_range=(-2.0, 2.0), aspect=(6.0, 4.0)); ball\_l — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in sphere\_lam (filled=True); inflow\_l — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-2.2, 1.65), end=(-1.4, 1.65)); nose\_l — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-1.0, 0.0), dashed=True); spoke\_l — a Line \[yellow\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), dashed=True); angle\_l — an Angle \[yellow\] labelled "82 degree" drawn in sphere\_lam (sides=((-1.0, 0.0), (-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704)), radius=0.45); mark\_l — a Point \[yellow\] labelled "S" drawn in sphere\_lam (location=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704)); mark\_l2 — a Point \[yellow\] drawn in sphere\_lam (location=(-0.13917310096006535, -0.9902680687415704)); shear\_l — a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), end=(3.5, 1.62)); shear\_l2 — a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-0.13917310096006535, -0.9902680687415704), end=(3.5, -1.62)); wake\_l — a Polygon \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (vertices=((-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), (3.5, 1.62), (3.5,…, fill\_opacity=0.22); sphere\_turb — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.3, 3.7), y\_range=(-2.0, 2.0), aspect=(6.0, 4.0)); head\_two — a Heading that says "Laminar Separation, Turbulent Separation"; ball\_t — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in sphere\_turb (filled=True); inflow\_t — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in sphere\_turb (start=(-2.2, 1.65), end=(-1.4, 1.65))

Actions:
- [16:15.954](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=975.9540416666667): nose\_t is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [16:23.652](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=983.6520416666667): spoke\_t is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [16:28.761](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=988.7610416666668): angle\_t is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [16:30.243](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=990.2430416666667)

Narration: So this layer arrives at the pressure hill with far more momentum in it, and it survives much further round. Separation moves back to about a hundred and twenty degrees, well past the widest point of the body.

Board: sphere\_lam — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.3, 3.7), y\_range=(-2.0, 2.0), aspect=(6.0, 4.0)); ball\_l — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in sphere\_lam (filled=True); inflow\_l — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-2.2, 1.65), end=(-1.4, 1.65)); nose\_l — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-1.0, 0.0), dashed=True); spoke\_l — a Line \[yellow\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), dashed=True); angle\_l — an Angle \[yellow\] labelled "82 degree" drawn in sphere\_lam (sides=((-1.0, 0.0), (-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704)), radius=0.45); mark\_l — a Point \[yellow\] labelled "S" drawn in sphere\_lam (location=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704)); mark\_l2 — a Point \[yellow\] drawn in sphere\_lam (location=(-0.13917310096006535, -0.9902680687415704)); shear\_l — a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), end=(3.5, 1.62)); shear\_l2 — a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-0.13917310096006535, -0.9902680687415704), end=(3.5, -1.62)); wake\_l — a Polygon \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (vertices=((-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), (3.5, 1.62), (3.5,…, fill\_opacity=0.22); sphere\_turb — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.3, 3.7), y\_range=(-2.0, 2.0), aspect=(6.0, 4.0)); head\_two — a Heading that says "Laminar Separation, Turbulent Separation"; ball\_t — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in sphere\_turb (filled=True); inflow\_t — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in sphere\_turb (start=(-2.2, 1.65), end=(-1.4, 1.65)); nose\_t — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sphere\_turb (end=(-1.0, 0.0), dashed=True); spoke\_t — a Line \[green\] drawn in sphere\_turb (end=(0.5000000000000001, 0.8660254037844386), dashed=True); angle\_t — an Angle \[green\] labelled "120 degree" drawn in sphere\_turb (sides=((-1.0, 0.0), (0.5000000000000001, 0.8660254037844386)), radius=0.45)

Actions:
- [16:34.62](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=994.6200416666668): mark\_t is shown on the screen, written out.
- [16:34.82](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=994.8200416666668): mark\_t2 is shown on the screen, written out.
- [16:39.055](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=999.0550416666667): angle\_t is indicated — a transient flash.

##### [16:43.103](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1003.1030416666667)

Narration: And look at the wake it leaves. Dramatically narrower than the one on the left, because the flow stayed attached long enough to be turned back inward before it let go.

Board: sphere\_lam — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.3, 3.7), y\_range=(-2.0, 2.0), aspect=(6.0, 4.0)); ball\_l — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in sphere\_lam (filled=True); inflow\_l — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-2.2, 1.65), end=(-1.4, 1.65)); nose\_l — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-1.0, 0.0), dashed=True); spoke\_l — a Line \[yellow\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), dashed=True); angle\_l — an Angle \[yellow\] labelled "82 degree" drawn in sphere\_lam (sides=((-1.0, 0.0), (-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704)), radius=0.45); mark\_l — a Point \[yellow\] labelled "S" drawn in sphere\_lam (location=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704)); mark\_l2 — a Point \[yellow\] drawn in sphere\_lam (location=(-0.13917310096006535, -0.9902680687415704)); shear\_l — a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), end=(3.5, 1.62)); shear\_l2 — a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-0.13917310096006535, -0.9902680687415704), end=(3.5, -1.62)); wake\_l — a Polygon \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (vertices=((-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), (3.5, 1.62), (3.5,…, fill\_opacity=0.22); sphere\_turb — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.3, 3.7), y\_range=(-2.0, 2.0), aspect=(6.0, 4.0)); head\_two — a Heading that says "Laminar Separation, Turbulent Separation"; ball\_t — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in sphere\_turb (filled=True); inflow\_t — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in sphere\_turb (start=(-2.2, 1.65), end=(-1.4, 1.65)); nose\_t — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sphere\_turb (end=(-1.0, 0.0), dashed=True); spoke\_t — a Line \[green\] drawn in sphere\_turb (end=(0.5000000000000001, 0.8660254037844386), dashed=True); angle\_t — an Angle \[green\] labelled "120 degree" drawn in sphere\_turb (sides=((-1.0, 0.0), (0.5000000000000001, 0.8660254037844386)), radius=0.45); mark\_t — a Point \[green\] labelled "S" drawn in sphere\_turb (location=(0.5000000000000001, 0.8660254037844386)); mark\_t2 — a Point \[green\] drawn in sphere\_turb (location=(0.5000000000000001, -0.8660254037844386))

Actions:
- [16:44.113](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1004.1130416666667): shear\_t is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [16:44.313](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1004.3130416666668): shear\_t2 is shown on the screen, drawn.
- [16:46.795](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1006.7950416666667): wake\_t is shown on the screen, faded in.

##### [16:53.456](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1013.4560416666668)

Narration: Compare the two shaded regions and you are looking at the entire drag crisis. A turbulent boundary layer does cost you more skin friction, and we said so earlier. But it separates later, and the pressure drag it saves is worth vastly more than the friction it costs.

Board: sphere\_lam — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.3, 3.7), y\_range=(-2.0, 2.0), aspect=(6.0, 4.0)); ball\_l — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in sphere\_lam (filled=True); inflow\_l — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-2.2, 1.65), end=(-1.4, 1.65)); nose\_l — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-1.0, 0.0), dashed=True); spoke\_l — a Line \[yellow\] drawn in sphere\_lam (end=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), dashed=True); angle\_l — an Angle \[yellow\] labelled "82 degree" drawn in sphere\_lam (sides=((-1.0, 0.0), (-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704)), radius=0.45); mark\_l — a Point \[yellow\] labelled "S" drawn in sphere\_lam (location=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704)); mark\_l2 — a Point \[yellow\] drawn in sphere\_lam (location=(-0.13917310096006535, -0.9902680687415704)); shear\_l — a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), end=(3.5, 1.62)); shear\_l2 — a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (start=(-0.13917310096006535, -0.9902680687415704), end=(3.5, -1.62)); wake\_l — a Polygon \[red\] drawn in sphere\_lam (vertices=((-0.13917310096006535, 0.9902680687415704), (3.5, 1.62), (3.5,…, fill\_opacity=0.22); sphere\_turb — a Figure (x\_range=(-2.3, 3.7), y\_range=(-2.0, 2.0), aspect=(6.0, 4.0)); head\_two — a Heading that says "Laminar Separation, Turbulent Separation"; ball\_t — a Circle \[blue\] drawn in sphere\_turb (filled=True); inflow\_t — a Vector \[yellow\] labelled "U" drawn in sphere\_turb (start=(-2.2, 1.65), end=(-1.4, 1.65)); nose\_t — a Line \[gray\] drawn in sphere\_turb (end=(-1.0, 0.0), dashed=True); spoke\_t — a Line \[green\] drawn in sphere\_turb (end=(0.5000000000000001, 0.8660254037844386), dashed=True); angle\_t — an Angle \[green\] labelled "120 degree" drawn in sphere\_turb (sides=((-1.0, 0.0), (0.5000000000000001, 0.8660254037844386)), radius=0.45); mark\_t — a Point \[green\] labelled "S" drawn in sphere\_turb (location=(0.5000000000000001, 0.8660254037844386)); mark\_t2 — a Point \[green\] drawn in sphere\_turb (location=(0.5000000000000001, -0.8660254037844386)); shear\_t — a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_turb (start=(0.5000000000000001, 0.8660254037844386), end=(3.5, 1.02)); shear\_t2 — a Line \[red\] drawn in sphere\_turb (start=(0.5000000000000001, -0.8660254037844386), end=(3.5, -1.02)); wake\_t — a Polygon \[red\] drawn in sphere\_turb (vertices=((0.5000000000000001, 0.8660254037844386), (3.5, 1.02), (3.5, -…, fill\_opacity=0.22)

Actions:
- [16:55.012](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1015.0120416666668): wake\_l is indicated — a transient flash.
- [16:55.312](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1015.3120416666668): wake\_t is indicated — a transient flash.

##### [17:10.612](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1030.6115416666667)

Narration: One picture, two wakes, and a factor of several in the force. All that remains is to find out when nature makes that switch for you, and how you can make it happen on purpose.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): head\_two is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): sphere\_lam is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): ball\_l is hidden from the screen — sphere\_lam left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): inflow\_l is hidden from the screen — sphere\_lam left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): nose\_l is hidden from the screen — sphere\_lam left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): spoke\_l is hidden from the screen — sphere\_lam left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): angle\_l is hidden from the screen — sphere\_lam left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): mark\_l is hidden from the screen — sphere\_lam left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): mark\_l2 is hidden from the screen — sphere\_lam left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): shear\_l is hidden from the screen — sphere\_lam left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): shear\_l2 is hidden from the screen — sphere\_lam left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): wake\_l is hidden from the screen — sphere\_lam left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): sphere\_turb is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): ball\_t is hidden from the screen — sphere\_turb left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): inflow\_t is hidden from the screen — sphere\_turb left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): nose\_t is hidden from the screen — sphere\_turb left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): spoke\_t is hidden from the screen — sphere\_turb left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): angle\_t is hidden from the screen — sphere\_turb left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): mark\_t is hidden from the screen — sphere\_turb left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): mark\_t2 is hidden from the screen — sphere\_turb left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): shear\_t is hidden from the screen — sphere\_turb left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): shear\_t2 is hidden from the screen — sphere\_turb left the board.
- [17:21.535](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1041.5346250000002): wake\_t is hidden from the screen — sphere\_turb left the board.

### Scene 5: [The Drag Crisis, and the Golf Ball](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1042.5762916666667)

Span: 17:22.576–21:59.835 (1042.5762916666667s–1319.8353125s).

#### Objects

- cd\_axes: an Axes (x\_range=(1.9, 6.6), y\_range=(0.0, 1.3), aspect=(5.0, 3.4))
- cd\_law: a Math \[text\] that says "$C\_D = frac(D, frac(1, 2) rho U^2 A)$"
- cd\_read: a VariableNumber (initial\_value=0.47, format\_spec='.2f')
- chain: a Block \[text\] that says "No slip makes a thin layer The layer runs slow at the wall A rising pressure separates it The wake sets the pressure drag"
- golf\_note: a Panel that says "Dimples trip the layer into turbulence with roughness instead of speed, so the crisis happens at a Reynolds number the ball reaches."
- golf\_re: a Math \[text\] that says "$upright("Re") approx 2 times 10^5$"
- head\_close: a Heading that says "The Whole Chain"
- head\_curve: a Heading that says "Reading the Curve"
- head\_golf: a Heading that says "Moving the Cliff"
- key\_line: a Math \[text\] that says "$D\_p prop upright("wake width")$"
- log\_re: a VariableNumber (initial\_value=3.0, format\_spec='.2f')
- point: a Point \[yellow\] drawn in cd\_axes (location=(5.6, 0.22))
- point\_2: a Point \[yellow\] drawn in cd\_axes (location=(5.3, 0.49))
- point\_3: a Point \[yellow\] drawn in cd\_axes (location=(4.75, 0.25))
- point\_4: a Point \[yellow\] drawn in cd\_axes (location=(5.3, 0.26))
- probe: a PlotPoint \[yellow\] labelled "(3.00, 0.47)" drawn in cd\_axes (target='smooth', x=\<VariableNumber log\_re = 5.3\>)
- readings: a Table \[text\] that says "Re $C\_D$ $10^3$ 0.47 $10^5$ 0.47 $4 times 10^5$ 0.22 $6 times 10^5$ 0.10" (rows=(('Re', '$C\_D$'), ('$10^3$', '0.47'), ('$10^5$', '0.47'), ('$4 …, header=True)
- rough: a FunctionPlot \[green\] labelled "upright("dimpled")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5))
- smooth: a FunctionPlot \[blue\] labelled "upright("smooth")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5))

#### Beats

##### [17:22.576](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1042.5762916666667)

Narration: So, the curve I promised you at the start. The drag coefficient of a smooth sphere up the side, and along the bottom the logarithm, base ten, of the Reynolds number. Four on this axis means a Reynolds number of ten thousand, and six means a million.

Board: Empty.

Actions:
- [17:22.576](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1042.5762916666667): head\_curve is shown on the screen, written out.
- [17:22.576](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1042.5762916666667): cd\_axes is shown on the screen, written out.
- [17:28.195](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1048.1952916666667): smooth is shown on the screen, drawn.

##### [17:39.32](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1059.3197916666668)

Narration: The drag coefficient is simply the drag made dimensionless: the force, divided by one half rho U squared, divided by the frontal area of the body. If nothing interesting ever happened in a fluid, this would be a constant, and the plot would be a horizontal line.

Board: cd\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(1.9, 6.6), y\_range=(0.0, 1.3), aspect=(5.0, 3.4)); head\_curve — a Heading that says "Reading the Curve"; smooth — a FunctionPlot \[blue\] labelled "upright("smooth")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5))

Actions:
- [17:41.856](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1061.8562916666667): cd\_axes moves to a new place on the board.
- [17:41.856](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1061.8562916666667): cd\_law is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [17:57.306](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1077.3057916666667)

Narration: Start over on the left, at a Reynolds number of a thousand. The pair beside the marker reads the horizontal coordinate first and the drag coefficient second, and there the coefficient is about zero point four seven.

Board: cd\_law — a Math \[text\] that says "$C\_D = frac(D, frac(1, 2) rho U^2 A)$"; cd\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(1.9, 6.6), y\_range=(0.0, 1.3), aspect=(5.0, 3.4)); head\_curve — a Heading that says "Reading the Curve"; smooth — a FunctionPlot \[blue\] labelled "upright("smooth")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5))

Actions:
- [17:57.654](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1077.6542916666667): readings is shown on the screen, written out.
- [18:2.251](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1082.2512916666667): probe is shown on the screen, written out.
- [18:9.438](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1089.4382916666668): readings is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [18:10.827](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1090.8272916666667)

Narration: Now walk it up the axis. Ten thousand. A hundred thousand. Three hundred thousand. Across those three whole decades the curve barely moves at all. It sits between about zero point four and zero point five, a long, flat, boring plateau.

Board: cd\_law — a Math \[text\] that says "$C\_D = frac(D, frac(1, 2) rho U^2 A)$"; cd\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(1.9, 6.6), y\_range=(0.0, 1.3), aspect=(5.0, 3.4)); head\_curve — a Heading that says "Reading the Curve"; smooth — a FunctionPlot \[blue\] labelled "upright("smooth")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5)); probe — a PlotPoint \[yellow\] labelled "(3.00, 0.47)" drawn in cd\_axes (target='smooth', x=\<VariableNumber log\_re = 5.3\>)

Actions:
- [18:11.443](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1091.4432916666667): probe is redrawn as the numbers it depends on change.
- [18:11.443](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1091.4432916666667): log\_re ticks to 5.3.
- [18:11.443](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1091.4432916666667): cd\_read ticks to 0.49.

##### [18:27.519](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1107.5192916666667)

Narration: And that plateau is exactly the picture we drew a moment ago. Laminar separation at eighty degrees, a wide wake, and a pressure drag that hardly cares how fast you go. At a hundred thousand the coefficient is still zero point four seven.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [18:38.955](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1118.9552916666667): readings is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [18:43.12](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1123.1197916666667)

Narration: And then this happens.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [18:44.025](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1124.0252916666668): probe is redrawn as the numbers it depends on change.
- [18:44.025](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1124.0252916666668): log\_re ticks to 5.78.
- [18:44.025](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1124.0252916666668): cd\_read ticks to 0.1.

##### [18:45.589](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1125.5887916666668)

Narration: In less than half a decade of Reynolds number, the drag coefficient falls from about zero point five to about zero point one. The drag on the sphere collapses to something like a fifth of what it was, while the sphere is being pushed through the fluid harder than before.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [18:49.478](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1129.4782916666668): readings is shown on the screen, written out.
- [18:55.236](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1135.2362916666668): readings is shown on the screen, written out.
- [18:56.618](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1136.6182916666667): point is shown on the screen, grown.
- [18:58.618](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1138.6182916666667): point is hidden from the screen.

##### [19:2.373](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1142.3732916666668)

Narration: That is the drag crisis, and the cause is precisely what we watched on the two spheres. At that Reynolds number the boundary layer turns turbulent before it reaches the adverse gradient. Separation jumps from eighty degrees back to a hundred and twenty, the wake narrows, and the pressure on the back comes up.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [19:3.673](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1143.6732916666667): readings (the "row=4" part) is emphasized.
- [19:17.71](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1157.7102916666668): readings (the "row=5" part) is emphasized.
- [19:20.741](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1160.7407916666668): readings (the "row=4" part) is no longer emphasized.
- [19:20.741](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1160.7407916666668): readings (the "row=5" part) is no longer emphasized.

##### [19:21.341](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1161.3407916666667)

Narration: Afterwards the curve creeps upward again, partly because the wake is now narrow enough that friction is starting to matter once more. But it never climbs back anywhere near the plateau.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [19:22.641](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1162.6412916666668): probe is redrawn as the numbers it depends on change.
- [19:22.641](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1162.6412916666668): log\_re ticks to 6.4.
- [19:22.641](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1162.6412916666668): cd\_read ticks to 0.17.
- [19:31.511](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1171.5112916666667): cd\_law is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [19:31.511](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1171.5112916666667): head\_curve is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [19:31.511](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1171.5112916666667): readings is hidden from the screen — left the board.

##### [19:32.711](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1172.7112916666667)

Narration: Now, a golf ball. A golf ball is about forty three millimetres across, and off the club face it is travelling at something like seventy metres per second. Put those two numbers into the Reynolds number and you get roughly two hundred thousand.

Board: cd\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(1.9, 6.6), y\_range=(0.0, 1.3), aspect=(5.0, 3.4)); smooth — a FunctionPlot \[blue\] labelled "upright("smooth")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5)); probe — a PlotPoint \[yellow\] labelled "(3.00, 0.47)" drawn in cd\_axes (target='smooth', x=\<VariableNumber log\_re = 5.3\>)

Actions:
- [19:32.711](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1172.7112916666667): head\_golf is shown on the screen, written out.
- [19:45.342](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1185.3422916666668): golf\_re is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [19:47.881](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1187.8812916666668)

Narration: Look where that lands on the curve. Two hundred thousand is a logarithm of five point three, which is right in the middle of the plateau, and comfortably on the wrong side of the crisis.

Board: cd\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(1.9, 6.6), y\_range=(0.0, 1.3), aspect=(5.0, 3.4)); smooth — a FunctionPlot \[blue\] labelled "upright("smooth")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5)); probe — a PlotPoint \[yellow\] labelled "(3.00, 0.47)" drawn in cd\_axes (target='smooth', x=\<VariableNumber log\_re = 5.3\>); golf\_re — a Math \[text\] that says "$upright("Re") approx 2 times 10^5$"; head\_golf — a Heading that says "Moving the Cliff"

Actions:
- [19:48.775](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1188.7752916666668): probe is redrawn as the numbers it depends on change.
- [19:48.775](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1188.7752916666668): log\_re ticks to 5.3.
- [19:48.775](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1188.7752916666668): cd\_read ticks to 0.49.
- [19:56.495](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1196.4952916666666): point\_2 is shown on the screen, grown.
- [19:58.495](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1198.4952916666666): point\_2 is hidden from the screen.

##### [19:58.826](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1198.8257916666666)

Narration: A smooth ball of that size, hit that hard, has a drag coefficient of about zero point five. It is stuck on the expensive side of the cliff, and no golfer alive can swing hard enough to get over it. Unless, of course, you move the cliff.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [20:4.305](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1204.3052916666668): probe is indicated — a transient flash.

##### [20:14.251](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1214.2512916666667)

Narration: Which is what the dimples are for. They trip the boundary layer into turbulence deliberately, using roughness instead of speed. Here is the same measurement for a dimpled ball.

Board: Unchanged from the preceding beat in this scene.

Actions:
- [20:20.369](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1220.3692916666666): golf\_note is shown on the screen, written out.
- [20:23.48](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1223.4802916666667): rough is shown on the screen, drawn.

##### [20:25.892](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1225.8917916666667)

Narration: The crisis has moved left, down to a Reynolds number of about fifty thousand, which is far below anything a golf ball will ever experience. So at two hundred thousand the dimpled ball is already past its own crisis, and its drag coefficient is about zero point two five.

Board: cd\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(1.9, 6.6), y\_range=(0.0, 1.3), aspect=(5.0, 3.4)); smooth — a FunctionPlot \[blue\] labelled "upright("smooth")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5)); probe — a PlotPoint \[yellow\] labelled "(3.00, 0.47)" drawn in cd\_axes (target='smooth', x=\<VariableNumber log\_re = 5.3\>); golf\_re — a Math \[text\] that says "$upright("Re") approx 2 times 10^5$"; golf\_note — a Panel that says "Dimples trip the layer into turbulence with roughness instead of speed, so the crisis happens at a Reynolds number the ball reaches."; head\_golf — a Heading that says "Moving the Cliff"; rough — a FunctionPlot \[green\] labelled "upright("dimpled")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5))

Actions:
- [20:29.688](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1229.6882916666668): point\_3 is shown on the screen, grown.
- [20:31.688](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1231.6882916666668): point\_3 is hidden from the screen.
- [20:41.623](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1241.6232916666668): point\_4 is shown on the screen, grown.

##### [20:42.926](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1242.9257916666668)

Narration: That is half the drag, near enough, and it is worth something like twice the carry. Which is why every golf ball made in the last century has been covered in dimples, and why a perfectly smooth one, hit properly, is faintly embarrassing to watch.

Board: cd\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(1.9, 6.6), y\_range=(0.0, 1.3), aspect=(5.0, 3.4)); smooth — a FunctionPlot \[blue\] labelled "upright("smooth")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5)); probe — a PlotPoint \[yellow\] labelled "(3.00, 0.47)" drawn in cd\_axes (target='smooth', x=\<VariableNumber log\_re = 5.3\>); golf\_re — a Math \[text\] that says "$upright("Re") approx 2 times 10^5$"; golf\_note — a Panel that says "Dimples trip the layer into turbulence with roughness instead of speed, so the crisis happens at a Reynolds number the ball reaches."; head\_golf — a Heading that says "Moving the Cliff"; rough — a FunctionPlot \[green\] labelled "upright("dimpled")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5)); point\_4 — a Point \[yellow\] drawn in cd\_axes (location=(5.3, 0.26))

Actions:
- [20:43.623](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1243.6232916666668): point\_4 is hidden from the screen.
- [20:43.721](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1243.7212916666667): rough is indicated — a transient flash.

##### [20:58.277](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1258.2767916666667)

Narration: And notice the price you pay for it. The dimpled ball after its crisis sits at about zero point two five, which is well above the zero point one the smooth ball reaches after its own. Turbulence is never free. It is simply far cheaper than a wide wake.

Board: cd\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(1.9, 6.6), y\_range=(0.0, 1.3), aspect=(5.0, 3.4)); smooth — a FunctionPlot \[blue\] labelled "upright("smooth")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5)); probe — a PlotPoint \[yellow\] labelled "(3.00, 0.47)" drawn in cd\_axes (target='smooth', x=\<VariableNumber log\_re = 5.3\>); golf\_re — a Math \[text\] that says "$upright("Re") approx 2 times 10^5$"; golf\_note — a Panel that says "Dimples trip the layer into turbulence with roughness instead of speed, so the crisis happens at a Reynolds number the ball reaches."; head\_golf — a Heading that says "Moving the Cliff"; rough — a FunctionPlot \[green\] labelled "upright("dimpled")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5))

Actions:
- [21:5.591](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1265.5912916666666): smooth is indicated — a transient flash.
- [21:14.334](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1274.3337916666667): cd\_axes moves to a new place on the board.
- [21:14.334](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1274.3337916666667): golf\_note is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [21:14.334](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1274.3337916666667): golf\_re is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [21:14.334](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1274.3337916666667): head\_golf is hidden from the screen — left the board.

##### [21:15.534](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1275.5337916666667)

Narration: So here is the whole chain, in order. No slip at the wall, so there is a thin layer where viscosity rules everything. That layer thickens along the surface, and the fluid inside it, near the wall, is slow.

Board: cd\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(1.9, 6.6), y\_range=(0.0, 1.3), aspect=(5.0, 3.4)); smooth — a FunctionPlot \[blue\] labelled "upright("smooth")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5)); probe — a PlotPoint \[yellow\] labelled "(3.00, 0.47)" drawn in cd\_axes (target='smooth', x=\<VariableNumber log\_re = 5.3\>); rough — a FunctionPlot \[green\] labelled "upright("dimpled")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5))

Actions:
- [21:15.534](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1275.5337916666667): head\_close is shown on the screen, written out.
- [21:15.534](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1275.5337916666667): probe is hidden from the screen.
- [21:16.717](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1276.7172916666668): chain is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [21:30.809](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1290.8087916666668)

Narration: Push that slow fluid into a rising pressure and it stalls, reverses, and lifts off, and the wake it leaves behind is what sets the pressure drag. Make the layer turbulent and it survives the rising pressure further, so the wake is narrower and the drag is lower.

Board: cd\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(1.9, 6.6), y\_range=(0.0, 1.3), aspect=(5.0, 3.4)); smooth — a FunctionPlot \[blue\] labelled "upright("smooth")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5)); rough — a FunctionPlot \[green\] labelled "upright("dimpled")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5)); chain — a Block \[text\] that says "No slip makes a thin layer The layer runs slow at the wall A rising pressure separates it The wake sets the pressure drag"; head\_close — a Heading that says "The Whole Chain"

Actions:
- [21:34.234](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1294.2342916666666): chain (the "A rising pressure separates it" part) is emphasized.
- [21:37.38](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1297.3802916666668): chain (the "A rising pressure separates it" part) is no longer emphasized.
- [21:37.38](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1297.3802916666668): chain (the "The wake sets the pressure drag" part) is emphasized.
- [21:41.757](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1301.7572916666668): chain (the "The wake sets the pressure drag" part) is no longer emphasized.
- [21:45.785](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1305.7852916666666): key\_line is shown on the screen, written out.

##### [21:48.557](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1308.5567916666669)

Narration: Bernoulli was never wrong about any of this. It simply could not see the five millimetres of fluid pressed against the wall. And that, it turns out, is where the drag lives.

Board: cd\_axes — an Axes (x\_range=(1.9, 6.6), y\_range=(0.0, 1.3), aspect=(5.0, 3.4)); smooth — a FunctionPlot \[blue\] labelled "upright("smooth")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5)); rough — a FunctionPlot \[green\] labelled "upright("dimpled")" drawn in cd\_axes (function=\<function\>, x\_range=(2.0, 6.5)); chain — a Block \[text\] that says "No slip makes a thin layer The layer runs slow at the wall A rising pressure separates it The wake sets the pressure drag"; key\_line — a Math \[text\] that says "$D\_p prop upright("wake width")$"; head\_close — a Heading that says "The Whole Chain"

Actions:
- [21:48.905](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1308.9052916666667): A box is drawn around key\_line.
- [21:58.794](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1318.7936458333334): cd\_axes is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [21:58.794](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1318.7936458333334): smooth is hidden from the screen — cd\_axes left the board.
- [21:58.794](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1318.7936458333334): rough is hidden from the screen — cd\_axes left the board.
- [21:58.794](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1318.7936458333334): chain is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [21:58.794](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1318.7936458333334): head\_close is hidden from the screen — left the board.
- [21:58.794](https://academa.ai/lectures/boundary-layer-drag-crisis?t=1318.7936458333334): key\_line is hidden from the screen — left the board.
