Phenomena

Cavitation Near Soft Surfaces

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Collapsing cavitation bubbles are sometimes used to break up kidney stones, and they may find other uses in medicine as well. Here, researchers investigate the collapse of laser-triggered cavitation bubbles near tissue-mimicking hydrogel. The bubbles take on a very different form than they do near solid surfaces. Near hydrogel, the bubbles become mushroom-shaped. During their collapse, they release a rainy microjet that moves at nearly 2,000 meters per second! Even at 5 million frames per second, the jet is practically a blink-and-you-miss-it phenomenon. (Image and video credit: D. Preso et al.)

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