Il may be a pain in the neck, it
may destroy a hairdo, but the driv
ing wind that students face as they
pass by the north or south side of
Oldfather Hall may be Bernoulli’s
Principle at work.
According to Alan Starace, the
theory pertains to the movement of
mass through a constricted area.
Once the mass hits the constricted
area, such as in between buildings,
the mass must move at a faster rate
in order to get the through the
smaller area.
The increased velocity com
bined with decreased air pressure
creates a wind burst in the con
stricted area, known as a wind
tunnel.
Although this is a logical prin
ciple, Clifford L. Bettis, professor of,
physics, said that he isn’t com
pletely sure this explains what is
happening between the buildings.
Starace agreed.
“I’m not sure that’s what’s hap
pening here,” he said.
Starace cited examples - analo
gous to the wind tunnel phenome
non — that apply the Bernoulli
I orinciole. One exam ole is a river
Starace said that when a large body
of water, like a river, passes
through a narrow area, the velocity
increases. Again the increase is
attributed to the fact that the water
must pass through a small area at
the same time. These areas are
. called rapids.
Another example is a perfume
atomizer. When one squeezes or
presses the atomizer to release the
perfume, the low pressure on the
inside of the bottle and high veloc
ity of the fluid, induced oy pres
sure, combines with the high pres
sure on the outside of the bottle
causes the explosion - or the re
lease of the fluid.
The implications of the “wind
tunnels” across the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln campus don’t
pose a great threat, Bettis said.
*Tve heard and read about win
dows breaking out, because of the
high velocity and low air pressure,”
he said.
According to Bettis this happens
when air pressure inside the build
ing is greater than outside.
Starace said window blowouts
usually happen when the windows
were loose, and even then it’s not
very commonplace.
These blowouts are analogous
to what happens during a tornado,
Starace said.
See EFFECTS on 11
m: wasaaf
A student bicycles into the Oldfather wind tunneL
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