On the physics of fizzing: How bubble bursting controls droplets ejection

TL;DR

This paper investigates how bubble bursting leads to droplet ejection, revealing the influence of liquid properties and bubble shape on droplet size and velocity, with implications for controlling aerosols.

Contribution

It introduces a simple scaling law for jet velocity and experimentally uncovers how liquid properties affect droplet ejection during bubble bursting.

Findings

Droplet ejection varies with liquid viscosity and surface tension.

Self-similar collapse can be maintained by damping capillary ripples.

Faster, smaller droplets are produced with higher viscosity liquids.

Abstract

Bubbles at a free surface surface usually burst in ejecting myriads of droplets. Focusing on the bubble bursting jet, prelude for these aerosols, we propose a simple scaling for the jet velocity and we unravel experimentally the intricate roles of bubble shape, capillary waves, gravity and liquid properties. We demonstrate that droplets ejection unexpectedly changes with liquid properties. In particular, using damping action of viscosity, self-similar collapse can be sheltered from capillary ripples and continue closer to the singular limit, therefore producing faster and smaller droplets.These results pave the road to the control of the bursting bubble aerosols.