Abstract
We present experimental evidence that drop breakup is caused by thermal noise in a system with a surface tension that is more than 10(6) times smaller than that of water. We observe that at very small scales classical hydrodynamics breaks down and the characteristic signatures of pinch-off due to thermal noise are observed. Surprisingly, the noise makes the drop size distribution more uniform, by suppressing the formation of satellite droplets of the smallest sizes. The crossover between deterministic hydrodynamic motion and stochastic thermally driven motion has repercussions for our understanding of small-scale hydrodynamics, important in many problems such as micro- or nanofluidics and interfacial singularities.
Translated title of the contribution | Drop formation by thermal fluctuations at an ultraflow surface tension |
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Original language | English |
Pages (from-to) | 1 - 4 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Physical Review Letters |
Volume | 97 (24, 244502) |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2006 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher: American Physical SocOther identifier: IDS number 117QT