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It is common knowledge that when the opening of a tap has many holes, the water flows out as a stream of bubbles.

But if you open the tap slowly, the water flow is laminar without any bubbles at first. Only after opening the tap to a certain point, bubbles start appearing (almost out of nowhere) near the opening of the tap and increase in number till the whole of the water flow is filled with bubbles. You can hopefully see this transition point in the video below.

Transistion

Why do these bubbles form, and where do they come from?

Note that my question is not about the mixing of air due to turbulent flow. It is about the creation of air bubbles inside the water flow (if that makes any sense).

Short, to-the-point answers are welcome as always.

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    $\begingroup$ I think that the reason is right the mixing in of air that you would like to exclude. $\endgroup$
    – Alchimista
    Commented Sep 9, 2021 at 13:57
  • $\begingroup$ mixing of air from where exactly? $\endgroup$
    – AlphaLife
    Commented Sep 9, 2021 at 14:00
  • $\begingroup$ From around the tap/aerator $\endgroup$
    – Alchimista
    Commented Sep 9, 2021 at 14:00
  • $\begingroup$ Well, then what role does the aerator play here? Wouldn't we get bubble streams without aerators? $\endgroup$
    – AlphaLife
    Commented Sep 9, 2021 at 14:06
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    $\begingroup$ See my answer to the second question in this series, which explains where the air comes from. $\endgroup$
    – niels nielsen
    Commented Sep 9, 2021 at 18:00

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