Activation of the eddy mental schema, multiple analogies and their heuristic cooperation in the historical development of fluid dynamics

Abstract

If we analyze the early historical evolution of the concept of eddy or vortex, it can be shown that it constitutes a mental schema and a powerful heuristic instrument in scientific thinking, with the intuitive properties of rotation and dissipation. This mental schema presents a great capacity to constitute a fruitful analogical source and to develop an analogical inference. For example, Descartes considered celestial vortexes to explain planetary motion, or Maxwell developed the electromagnetic theory via a model based on rotating vortexes. But there were more creative and detailed uses of the eddy schema which had great importance as a cooperative heuristic instrument, instead of as a mere expedient analogy. I will present two episodes to underline the activation via provocative analogy of the eddy schema, multiple roles that it can play and its heuristic adaptability: first, the eureka visualization of an eddy by Johann Bernoulli in the genesis of fluid dynamics; and second, Reynolds’s discovery of the importance of eddies to understand the dynamic and resistance of flow.