Water Falling Through the Air Twists on Itself
The curving and spiralling of a falling stream, with filmy water bridging its parts
Leonardo observes that water falling through the air separates from its main mass only with difficulty. He reads the sign of this cohesion in the curving the stream produces and in the twisting of one part around another, between which a thin membranous (filmy) film of water is interposed. A drawing at the upper right shows the falling column of water winding and twisting on itself.
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A falling stream curves and twists instead of breaking apart
Water that falls through the air separates from its main mass only with difficulty. The sign of this is shown by the curving that it produces and by the twisting of one part around another, between which the filmy water interposes itself.