In the experiments, the team poured Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise into a Plexiglass container and subjected it to some of the same conditions as the molten metal. Using a high-speed camera and an image processing algorithm, the team computed the parameters associated with the instability.

Understanding the fundamental hydrodynamics and physics of fusion reactions may indeed require out of the box thinking. By applying a creative mindset, and maybe substituting an ingredient or two, physicists can better model the forces at work in various reactions.