Mixing fluids efficiently in confined spaces: Let the fingers do the working

Researchers have shown that the injection of a thin or low-viscosity fluid into a much more viscous fluid (think of water spurting into molasses) will cause the two fluids to mix very quickly via a physical process known as viscous fingering. For maximum mixing to occur quickly, the ideal ratio of the viscosity of two fluids depends on the speed of injection. This work could have implications for the petroleum industry and microfluidics technology.

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