Condensation-induced jumping water drops.
Water droplets can jump during vapor condensation on solid benzene near its melting point. This phenomenon, which can be viewed as a kind of micro scale steam engine, is studied experimentally and numerically. The latent heat of condensation transferred at the drop three phase contact line melts the substrate during a time proportional to R (the drop radius). The wetting conditions change and a spontaneous jump of the drop results in random direction over length approximately 1.5R , a phenomenon that increases the coalescence events and accelerates the growth. Once properly rescaled by the jump length scale, the growth dynamics is, however, similar to that on a solid surface.
Narhe
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Department of Physics and Applied Mathematics, University of Navarra, 31080 Pamplona, Spain.
Khandkar
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Shelke
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Limaye
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Beysens
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