Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Surface tension

Floater clustering in a standing wave

Nature volume 435, pages 1045–1046 (2005)Cite this article

Capillarity effects drive hydrophilic or hydrophobic particles to congregate at specific points on a wave.

Abstract

How do waves affect the distribution of small particles that float on water? Here we show that drifting small particles concentrate in either the nodes or antinodes of a standing wave, depending on whether they are hydrophilic or hydrophobic, as a result of a surface-tension effect that violates Archimedes' law of buoyancy. This clustering on waves may find practical application in particle separation and provides insight into the patchy distribution on water of, for example, plastic litter or oil slicks.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Floaters in a standing wave.

References

  1. Faraday, M. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 121, 319–340 (1831).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Chladni, E. F. F. Entdeckungen über die Theorie des Klangen (Wittenberg, 1787).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Waller, M. Chladni Figures: A Study in Symmetry (Bell, London, 1961).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Faraday, M. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 121, 299–318 (1831).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Thomas, B. & Squires, A. M. Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 574–577 (1998).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Rayleigh, L. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 175, 1 (1883).

    Google Scholar 

  7. King, L. V. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 147, 212–216 (1935).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    G. Falkovich & A. Weinberg

  2. Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, University of Hull, East Yorkshire, HU6 7RX, UK

    P. Denissenko & S. Lukaschuk

Authors
  1. G. Falkovich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. Weinberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. P. Denissenko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. S. Lukaschuk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Falkovich, G., Weinberg, A., Denissenko, P. et al. Floater clustering in a standing wave. Nature 435, 1045–1046 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/4351045a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/4351045a

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing