Lift / Radial expansion of air experiment

thingiverse

This is a miniature version of an experiment I witnessed in person. A larger-scale model can be found at the air and space museum. The disk with the pipe is positioned so that the hole points downwards, with the disk resting at the bottom. A straw is inserted into the hole. The experimenter blows through the hole, causing a disk to rise up to the cylinder. A flat disk without any barriers will adhere to the cylinder instead of falling to the ground, seemingly defying gravity, although it may tend to slide off to one side. You can experiment with creating different barrier designs that prevent this. The Disk with an X on it still allows air to expand radially and will lift up to the plate. It will stay in place slightly better because the barriers will be touching the disk, preventing slippage. Other disks have varying barrier layouts. Some will prevent radial expansion and thus prevent lifting. If Bernoulli's principle is responsible for the lift, would the shape of the barriers actually matter? Experiment with the other disks. Which barrier designs do you think will still allow the disk to remain levitated?