English

Surface Instabilities and Patterning in Liquids: Exemplifications of the "Hairy Ball Theorem"

Soft Condensed Matter 2015-03-25 v1 Classical Physics Fluid Dynamics

Abstract

Application of the "hairy ball theorem" to the analysis of the surface instabilities inherent for liquid/vapor interfaces is reported. When a continuous tangential velocity field exists on the surface of the liquid sample which is homeomorphic to a ball, zero velocity points will be necessarily present at the surface. The theorem is exemplified with the analysis of the instability occurring under the rapid evaporation of polymer solutions. Zero velocity points, accumulating pores, enable direct visualization of the instability. The patterning may be essentially different on the surface of a torus.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1503.06996,
  title  = {Surface Instabilities and Patterning in Liquids: Exemplifications of the "Hairy Ball Theorem"},
  author = {Edward Bormashenko},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1503.06996},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

8 pages, 3 figures