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The physics of antibubblesAn antibubble is a spherical shell of air trapped in a liquid. Before our work, antibubbles were mainly a curiosity. The GRASP performed systematic experiments and proposed physical interpretations. A possible application of such fluid object is the delicate mixing of two miscible fluids.  Read our first article in the field : S.Dorbolo, H.Caps and N.Vandewalle, New J. Phys. 5, 161 (2003) Recipe 1- Prepare 1/2 gallon of a water/soap solution with your favorite dishwashing detergent.
 Colouring antibubbles By mixing some ink with the solution, some quantity of liquid is coloured. The injection of this liquid creates coloured antibubbles. This simple experiment proves that the air film separates both internal and external liquids. This suggests that liquids of different nature could be separated. Heavy antibubbles By adding some salt in the solution, heavy antibubbles could be created. Heavy antibubbles are more denser than the surrounding water. Such antibubbles sink and burst at the bottom of the container. When free falling, an antibubble reaches sometimes a critical pressure and bursts. Beautiful vortices are created. The occurence of a critical pressure at which all antibubbles become unstable is actually not understood. By adding glycerol in the container, a viscous layer of glycerol is formed at the bottom of the container. This viscous layer stops the free falling of heavy antibubbles. Stability Antibubbles are unstable objects. Indeed, air is drained from the bottom towards the top of the antibubble due to gravity. When the thickness of the air film reaches a critical length, the air film breaks. The theory of air drainage in the air film predicts an antibubble lifetime around 100 seconds. This remarkable stability is surprising. Similar fluid objects We have also developped a method for creating fluid objects similar to antibubbles. Instead of air films, we obtain spherical layers of silicon oil. "Antibubbles" with multiple layers can be formed (see the picture at the right). More info and links - A summary of our article on the physicsweb portal - Tricks and references on www.antibubble.org |
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