Rising bubbles and droplets are common in many chemical and industrial applications. But just a tiny concentration of contaminants on their surface can completely alter their behavior, disrupting coalescence and Keep reading
Tag: contamination
The Leidenfrost Crack
In 1756, Leidenfrost reported on the peculiar behaviors of droplets on surface much hotter than the liquid’s boiling point. Such droplets were highly mobile, surfing on a thin layer of Keep reading
Agnes Pockels: Surface Science Pioneer
Today’s FYFD video tells a story I’ve wanted to share for a couple of years now. It’s about the life and work of Agnes Pockels, a woman born in the Keep reading
Flowing Up a Waterfall
Tea-drinking physicists found that it’s possible for particles to flow up a short (< 1 cm) waterfall to contaminate pure upstream sources. Their apparatus is shown above, along with an Keep reading