The Rise of Life on Earth: Cavitation in Nature

The phenomenon of cavitation has been known in science and technology for more than a hundred years. It was first recognized as an important hydrodynamic phenomenon in connection with high speed marine propulsion, including early observations associated with British destroyers in the late nineteenth century. Osborne Reynolds and later researchers helped establish cavitation as a serious problem in ship propellers, pumps, and turbines [1,2].

The word cavitation comes from the Latin root cavitas, meaning “cavity” or “hollow space.” In physics and engineering, cavitation refers to the formation of vapor filled cavities or bubbles inside a liquid when the local pressure falls below, or close to, the vapor pressure of that liquid [1].