Can Rayleigh–Bénard Convection Be Observed at Home?

[Jbreezy]

Hello,
I was trying to see if anyone knew a site where I could find directions on how to do Rayleigh–Bénard convection from home. I found this book on google books and it started to tell me then the pages jumped from 6 to 9. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Andy Resnick]

Do you mean observe the convection or model the convection? For modeling, you can't do much better than to start with Chandrasekhar's "Hydrodynamic and hydromagnetic stability" (Dover). For an experimental system, it's not hard- a large flat-bottomed pan partially filled with water and placed on a hot plate or stovetop. Getting good visibility isn't too hard- these folks used shampoo:

http://www.colorado.edu/MCEN/flowvis/galleries/2010/Team-3/Reports/Lisenker_Ilya.pdf

 

[Jbreezy]

DUDE! Just to observe! Thanks so much you made my day! THANKS THANKS THANKS!