Non-spherical bubbles
By Sung Hoon Kang
(not finished yet)
Title: Non-spherical bubbles
Reference: A. B. Subramaniam, M. Abkarian, L. Mahadevan, H. A. Stone, Nature 438, 930 (2005).
Contents
Soft matter keywords
surface tension, gas-liquid interface, bubble
Abstract from the original paper
Surface tension gives gas bubbles their perfect spherical shape by minimizing the surface area for a given volume. Here we show that gas bubbles and liquid drops can exist in stable, non-spherical shapes if the surface is covered, or ‘armoured’, with a close-packed monolayer of particles. When two spherical armoured bubbles are fused, jamming of the particles on the interface supports the unequal stresses that are necessary to stabilize a non-spherical shape.
Soft matter example
Gas bubbles have their spherical shape to minimize their surface area [1]. This surface tension effect is frequently observed in our lives. In this paper, the author showed that the gas bubbles and liquid drops could exist in stable non spherical shapes if the surface is covered with a close-packed monolayer of particles. When the surface of two bubbles, covered or 'armoured" with a closed-packed monolayer of particles, are fused, jamming of the particles on the interface supports the unequil stresses to stabilize a non-spherical shape. They found that the fusion of the armoured bubbles (done by squeezing the bubbles between two glass plates) produced a stable ellipsoidal shape as shown in Fig. 1 a-c. In this case, the jamming of the particles on the closed interface mediated by surface tension generates non-minimal shapes. If we consider the stress state in these kind of interfacial composite materials, a balance of normal stresses at the bubble surface results in
ΔP = σ1/R1 + σ2/R2
where ΔP is the pressure jump across the surface, R1 and R2 are the local principal radii of curvature, and σ1 and σ2 are the corresponding principal resultants of surface stress.
