The Life of a Surface Bubble

TL;DR

This paper reviews the physics governing the lifetime of surface bubbles, emphasizing mechanisms like drainage and evaporation, and identifies different rupture scenarios based on film thickness and interactions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of current understanding and highlights the diversity of rupture mechanisms influenced by film properties and interactions.

Findings

Drainage and evaporation significantly affect bubble film thinning.

Two rupture scenarios depend on film thickness relative to van der Waals forces.

Theoretical and experimental insights clarify bubble lifetime mechanisms.

Abstract

Surface bubbles are present in many industrial processes and in nature, as well as in CO$_2$ beverage. They have motivated many theoretical, numerical and experimental works. This paper presents the current knowledge on the physics of surface bubbles lifetime and shows the diversity of mechanisms at play that depend on the properties of the bath, the interfaces and the ambient air. In particular, we explore the role of drainage and evaporation on film thinning. We highlight the existence of two different scenarios depending on whether the film cap ruptures at large or small thickness compared to the thickness at which van der Waals interaction come in to play.