Coandă effect
tendency of a fluid jet to stay attached to a convex surface
The Coandă effect ( or ) is the tendency of a fluid jet to stay attached to a surface of any form. Merriam-Webster describes it as "the tendency of a jet of fluid emerging from an orifice to follow an adjacent flat or curved surface and to entrain fluid from the surroundings so that a region of lower pressure develops."
It is named after Romanian inventor Henri Coandă, who was the first to recognize the practical application of the phenomenon in aircraft design around 1910. It was first documented explicitly in two patents issued in 1936.
History
A description of this phenomenon was provided by Thomas Young in a lecture to The Royal Society in 1800:
The lateral pressure which urges the flame of a candle towards the stream of air from a blowpipe is probably exactly similar to that pressure which eases the inflection of a current of air near an obstacle. Mark the dimple which a slender stream of air makes on the surface of water. Bring a convex body into contact with the side of the stream and the place of the dimple will immediately show the current is deflected towards the body; and if the body be at liberty to move in every direction it will be urged towards the current...
More than a hundred years later, Henri Coandă identified an application of the effect during experiments with his Coandă-1910 aircraft, which mounted an unusual engine he designed. The motor-driven turbine pushed hot air rearward, and Coandă noticed that the airflow was attracted to nearby surfaces. In 1934, Coandă obtained a patent in France for a "method and apparatus for deviation of a fluid into another fluid". The effect was described as the "deviation of a plain jet of a fluid that penetrates another fluid in the vicinity of a convex wall".
The public source identifies “Coandă effect” as tendency of a fluid jet to stay attached to a convex surface. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Coandă, effect and tendency.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Coandă effect”, the useful work is to connect “tendency of a fluid jet to stay attached to a convex surface” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q605624. The Library of Congress control number is sh85027422. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1910, 1936, 1800 and 1934.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Coandă effect”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Coandă effect primary sources, Coandă effect archive and Coandă research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Coandă effect”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Coandă effect” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.