It is shown that a rigid sphere transported along in Poiseuille flow through a tube is subject to radial forces which tend to carry it to a certain equilibrium position at about 0.6 tube radii from the axis, irrespective of the radial position at which the sphere first entered the tube. It is further shown that the trajectories of the particles are portions of one master trajectory and that the origin of the forces causing the radial displacements is in the inertia of the moving fluid. An analysis of the parameters determining the behaviour is presented and a phenomenological description valid at low Reynolds numbers is arrived at in terms of appropriate reduced variables. These phenomena have already been described in a preliminary note (Segré & Silberberg 1961). The present more complete analysis confirms the conclusions, but it appears that the dependence of the effects on the particle radius go with the third and not the fourth power as was then reported.

It is also shown that the description of the phenomena becomes more complicated at tube Reynolds numbers above about 30.