Viscosity can have a notable effect on droplet impacts. This poster demonstrates with snapshots from three droplet impacts. The blue drops are dyed water, and the red ones are a more viscous water-glycerol mixture. When the two water droplets impact, a skirt forms between them, then spreads outward into a sheet with a thicker, uneven rim before retracting. The second row shows a water droplet impacting a water-glycerol droplet. The less viscous water droplet deforms faster, wrapping around and mixing into the other drop before rebounding in a jet. The last row switches the impacts, with the more viscous drop falling onto the water. As in the previous case, the water deforms faster than the water-glycerol. The two mix during spreading and rebound slower. In the last timestep shown, the droplet is still contracting, but it does rebound as a jet thereafter. (Image credit: T. Fanning et al.)
Viscous Droplet Impacts
