Researchers Claim to Have Solved the Perplexing ‘Reverse Sprinkler’ Problem

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Listen · 7:06 min VideoA view looking down at a cylindrical experimental set-up of a sprinkler system and the flow of water sucked into the ends of the tubes. The experiment, by scientists at New York University, may have solved “Feynman’s sprinkler problem.”CreditCredit...New York University's Applied Math LabJuly 14, 2026, 5:02 a.m. ETScientists say they have solved in detail what may be the most famous lawn-care-related problem in all of physics.The so-called Feynman sprinkler problem is named after one of the best-known physicists of the 20th century, Richard Feynman, even though he was not the first to pose it, and