If you’re hitting the beach this August, you may find yourself indulging in one of those characteristic treats of America’s boardwalks: saltwater taffy, made by a process conventionally known as “pulling” taffy. But if you’re a fluid dynamics professor at the University of Wisconsin, you might prefer to characterize it as “mixing” — mixing air with sugar, essentially. And you might start to get curious about the mesmerizing spirograph patterns traced by the rods on those taffy machines, and wonder, above all else, if there isn’t a more efficient way to achieve that silky result.
Office of Strategic Communication