Rayleigh-Plateau Instability

This lecture covers the Rayleigh-Plateau instability, a phenomenon where most flows become unstable, leading to various instabilities such as vortex shedding, flow separation, and meandering instability. The physical mechanism behind this instability is related to surface tension and the breakup of liquid columns. The lecture delves into the equations, boundary conditions, and analysis of the instability, providing insights into the hydrodynamic linear instability theory. Hand-waving arguments and success stories from historical experiments are also discussed, shedding light on the fundamental principles governing this instability.