title: Negative droplets from positive electrospray.
abstract: Image charge detection has been used to measure the charge and velocity of individual electrosprayed water droplets. With a positive bias on the electrospray needle the majority of the droplets are, as expected, positively charged. However, a small fraction, surprisingly, carry a negative charge. Plausible explanations for the presence of the negatively charged droplets are discussed. In particular, we consider the possibility of the negatively charged droplets resulting from a bipolar fission process where the incorporation of a small negatively charged droplet between two larger positively charged progeny lowers the energy barrier for symmetric fission.
authors.affiliation: Chemistry Department, Indiana University, 800 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA.
authors.forename: Joshua T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Maze
authors.forename: Thaddeus C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Martin F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Jarrold