English

Robust fadeout profile of an evaporation stain

Soft Condensed Matter 2015-05-13 v2 Materials Science

Abstract

We propose an explanation for the commonly-seen fading in the density of a stain remaining after a droplet has dried on a surface. The density decreases as a power pp of the distance from the edge. For thin, dilute drops of general shape this power is determined by a flow stagnation point in the distant interior of the drop. The power pp depends on the local evaporation rate J(0) at the stagnation point and the liquid depth h(0)h(0) there: p=12(h(0)/hˉ)(Jˉ/J(0))p = 1 - 2 (h(0)/\bar h)(\bar J/J(0)), where hˉ\bar h and Jˉ\bar J are averages over the drop surface.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0903.4919,
  title  = {Robust fadeout profile of an evaporation stain},
  author = {T. A. Witten},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0903.4919},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

5 pages at journal density 3 figures. v2 has Numerous wording and figure clarifications. Accepted in Europhysics Letters http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/-page=forthart/0295-5075/1