All of us remember how when we were little our mother would ask to cover our mouth when we sneezed. She would explain that our sneeze may cause someone to fall ill. And this is true because when one sneezes, the mucus and saliva launches out from the mouth at a speed of 10 miles per hour spreading various pathogens during this journey.

But what path do these take? In order to understand the actual path the saliva and mucus take, researchers from MIT with the help of some volunteers studied the fluid dynamics of a sneeze.

For this study, the researchers asked some volunteers to sneeze 50 times in front of a high-speed video camera. After videotaping this, the team slowed down the footage. This super slow motion video of the sneeze showed that the mucus and saliva mix is actually a “sheet” of fluid when it first leaves the body, then breaks into scraps called bag bursts, then thins out into strings or “ligaments,” and finally disperses as germ-carrying droplets.

According to previous studies, smaller drops of fluid can travel amazingly long distances. So the next step the researchers want to move to is capturing sneezes in 3D using nine high speed cameras so that they get a chance to better understand how variable conditions change the size of the droplets.

A better understanding of this phenomenon can help researchers and engineers stop the spread of diseases in confined spaces.

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Author:Technology Blog