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Fluid dynamics

Getting the drops in

Nature Physics volume 10, pages 548–549 (2014)Cite this article

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When a bubble bursts at a liquid–gas interface, a portion of gas is released from the liquid. Now, another, counterintuitive process is reported: rapid motion generated by bubble-bursting transports oil droplets from the surface into the interior of a volume of water.

Efficient exchange between two different phases in contact, such as between a liquid and a gas (pictured), is important for natural and industrial processes. For example, approximately 90 gigatonnes of carbon are exchanged between the atmosphere and the oceans each year; this has important consequences for climate modelling1. As is demonstrated in the simple case of beating an egg, finding efficient routes to transport one phase (air) into the other (liquid) is equally important for smaller-scale, man-made systems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jens Eggers is at the School of Mathematics, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TW, UK,

    Jens Eggers

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  1. Jens Eggers
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Correspondence to Jens Eggers.

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Eggers, J. Getting the drops in. Nature Phys 10, 548–549 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3043

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