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Years ago there was a video on YouTube showing that geometric shapes appear in a vortex of water at different rates of spin. While it is neat that these shapes appear in atmosphere of another planet I have since assumed that it is the same dynamic as shapes in water vortices.

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Found this: https://youtube.com/watch?v=I1vhRJo0Eik

That is a much better explanation than the one I saw. From that video the polygons only appear once there is a dry region at the bottom. Could we be getting a view of what constitutes a planetary surface at the bottom of the vortex?

I mean provided there was a distinct surface to see then it could happen if it was strong enough, but the problem with the bucket is it's limited depth. If the bucket was 20 foot tall I doubt you would see the bottom before those structures appeared.

Sounds like a good experiment. That experimenter said that deeper water required faster spinning to draw the vortex to the bottom and that the shapes don't appear until the center of the vortex is dry. So they did some experiments with deeper water but it was easier to make the shapes with less water.

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