At the University of Warwick, new research has led scientist, Dr. James Sprittles, to create a new theory explaining what happens when a drop of water comes in contact to another surface causing a splash.
When a drop of water falls, it appears to splash, where some water also comes back up towards the opposite direction that it traveled from. The drop does not evenly spread out smoothly across the surface due to a microscopically thin layer of air that the drop is unable to push aside. These air molecules cause some of the liquid to fly outward and up and do not dry up upon contact, hence causing the splash.
Below is an animated illustration of the process in which a liquid drop undergoes upon impact.
Credit: University of Warwick
Scientists have found that a layer of air 1 micron in size can obstruct a 1mm drop of water, 1000 times lager than the layer of air itself. To compare the two, it is as if a 1cm layer of air stopped a tsunami wave spreading across a beach.
Dr. Sprittles' theory has established what happens to the microscopic layer of air during the process of the impact, including the dynamics that nature incorporates, predicting whether splashes will take place.
The lower the air pressure, the easier it is for hair to escape from the squashed layer, thus causing a lower resistance to the water drop and enabling the suppression of splashes. Simply, splashes are smaller when air pressure is lower. Higher air pressure causes the molecules to react slightly slower, trapping more air molecules under the drop and sending more liquid back up.
Dr. Sprittles states:
"You would never expect a seemingly everyday event to exhibit such complexity. The air layer's width is so small that it is similar to the distance air molecules travel between collisions, so that traditntal models are inaccurate and a microscopic theory is required.
Most promisingly, the new theory should have application to a wide range of related phenomena, such as in climate science - to understand how water drops collide during the formation of clouds or to estimate the quality of has being dragged into our oceans by rainfall."
This new theory has many practical uses, such as the stated above, climate science application, as well as in crime scenes with drops of blood. Dr. Sprittles' theory also can be used in 3D printing and product design.
Baylor Wallace
March 19, 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment