Drop Splashing on a Dry Smooth Surface
"Drop Splashing on a Dry Smooth Surface"
Lei Xu, Wendy W. Zhang, and Sidney R. Nagel
PRL 94, 184505 (2005)
Soft Matter Keywords
Droplet, splashing, surface tension, viscosity
Overview
(From paper)
The corona splash due to the impact of a liquid drop on a smooth dry substrate is investigated with highspeed photography. A striking phenomenon is observed: splashing can be completely suppressed by decreasing the pressure of the surrounding gas. The threshold pressure where a splash first occurs is measured as a function of the impact velocity and found to scale with the molecular weight of the gas and the viscosity of the liquid. Both experimental scaling relations support a model in which compressible effects in the gas are responsible for splashing in liquid solid impacts.