Polygonal excitations of spinning and levitating droplets
Abstract
The shape of a weightless spinning liquid droplet is governed by the balance between the surface tension and centrifugal forces. The axisymmetric shape for slow rotation becomes unstable to a non-axisymmetric distortion above a critical angular velocity, beyond which the droplet progresses through a series of 2-lobed shapes. Theory predicts the existence of a family of 3- and 4-lobed equilibrium shapes at higher angular velocity. We investigate the formation of a triangular-shaped magnetically levitated water droplet, driven to rotate by the Lorentz force on an ionic current within the droplet. We also study equatorial traveling waves which give the droplet 3, 4 and 5-fold symmetry.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0808.3704,
title = {Polygonal excitations of spinning and levitating droplets},
author = {R. J. A. Hill and L. Eaves},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0808.3704},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
Supplementary information at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~ppzlev/Droplet