Water Ball Fountain

This water ball fountain is in the Botanic Garden, Singapore. The ball rotates because of the hydrostatic pressure from the water fountain that almost lifts the granite ball and thus there is no friction between the ball and the stone cavity. Slight off-centre flow of water makes the ball rotate while the ball remains on a film of water because of hydrostatic pressure. Hydrostatic pressure is a form of lubrication which is known as hydrostatic lubrication. It can be done using any fluid (gas or liquid), however, you require to create enough pressure such that two solid surfaces do not touch each other. There are bearings that work on this principle such as air-bearings. Hydrostatic lubrication is different from the normal bearings where we use a petroleum-based lubricant for low friction.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Hydrostatic
• Ball
• Bearing

[dandooshnanoosh]

Fake -- you can see the strings.

[djabvegas]

thank you....this makes much more sense than wiki's explanation

[hla27b]

excellent example of hydrostatic bearing