The field of microfluidics–where fluids are constrained to the sub-millimeter scale–is increasingly important in fields like chemistry, molecular biology, and microtechnology. At the microscale, surface tension often has greater effects than in our everyday world. This video shows how adding small amounts of a polymer drastically changes droplet breakup.
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Breaking up in Crossflow
This video shows some instabilities that occur when a liquid jet impinges on a flowing cross stream. Note how the jet breaks down into droplets in a fashion similar to the Plateau-Rayleigh instability but the broken tip remains stable for some time thereafter. #
Dripping into Droplets
The Plateau-Rayleigh instability is one that just about everyone has witnessed. It describes how a liquid jet breaks up into droplets. Notice the waviness in the jet before breakdown. The tiniest curvature in the jet causes an imbalance in the liquid’s pressure due to surface tension. Because the system is unstable, any small changes will become larger, ultimately resulting in the jet breaking into droplets.