Séminaire

Mardi 24 Février 2026 à 11h00.

Drops and bubbles with mobile boundaries: From bendotaxis to the unpoppable bubble

Dominic Vella
(University of Oxford)

Salle de séminaires Lippmann

Invité(e) par
Sacha Bouvier

présentera en 1 heure :

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The basic physics of a small droplet on a rigid substrate are well known: drops should remain at rest and adopt the form of a spherical cap with contact angle determined by the balance of surface tensions at the contact line. However, when the interface is complex or the boundary is no longer rigid, this picture may change. I will begin by showing how a simple drop can deviate from the spherical cap form if the interface becomes contaminated as it evaporates. This is caused by elastic effects within the interface itself. I will also show that droplets confined by flexible boundaries may spontaneously move. Returning to pure drops of simple fluids, I’ll end by discussing attempts to blow bubbles inside a sessile drops and a surprising means to help the resulting bubbles live apparently indefinitely.

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