Paused smoke?

Question

i was sitting in my car the other day smoking a cigarette. it was a windy day, and i noticed that when a gust of wind would blow into the car window the rising smoke would jump sideways and the stream of smoke would keep the same ... uh.... figure (?) as it jolted sideways.

you know as smoke rises the stream changes shapes or whatever? well when the wind blew into the car it would freeze momentarily. how did this happen?

and for those who feel the need to say it, yes i am aware that cigarettes are bad for your health and disgusting and all that.

thanks in advance.

Answer 1

it might be a ghost

and he/she probably might hve liked u and might be wanting to say that stop smoking and leet's be friends.

Answer 2

The car window presented precisely the right shape to the wind so that the flow through it was laminar.  Because the flow was laminar, it didn't mix well vertically.  The lack of vertical mixing formed what is called a shear layer, so that a horizontal slab of air moved sideways at once without mixing horizontally or vertically.  Your cig smoke would rise into still air between gusts, a gust would blow, the shear layer would form, and move part of the smoke column along with it.  When the gust died down, the shear layer stopped.  

Google "shear layer laminar flow" for some examples of this.

Answer 3

smoke is bad