Pairing-induced motion of source and inert particles driven by surface tension

TL;DR

This study explores how a source particle and an inert particle move together on a liquid surface due to surface tension effects, showing a transition from circular to straight motion influenced by glycerol concentration.

Contribution

It introduces a combined experimental and theoretical analysis of pairing-induced motion driven by surface tension gradients and capillary forces, highlighting the importance of particle velocity effects.

Findings

Observed transition between circular and straight motion with changing glycerol concentration.

Numerical model successfully reproduces the transition and supports the experimental results.

Linear stability analysis confirms the role of particle velocity in the interaction dynamics.

Abstract

We experimentally and theoretically investigate systems with a pair of source and inert particles that interacts through the concentration field. The experimental system comprises a camphor disk as the source particle and a metal washer as the inert particle. Both are floated on a red aqueous solution at various concentrations, where the glycerol modifies the viscosity of the aqueous phase. The particles form a pair owing to the attractive lateral capillary force. As the camphor disk spreads surface-active molecules at the aqueous surface, the camphor disk and metal washer move together, driven by the surface tension gradient. The washer is situated in the front of the camphor disk, keeping the distance constant during their motion, which we call a pairing-induced motion. The pairing-induced motion exhibited a transition between circular and straight motions as the glycerol concentration in the aqueous phase changed. Numerical calculations using a model that considers forces caused by the surface tension gradient and lateral capillary interaction reproduced the observed transition in the pairing-induced motion. Moreover, this transition agrees with the result of the linear stability analysis on the reduced dynamical system obtained by the expansion with respect to the particle velocity. Our results reveal that the effect of the particle velocity cannot be overlooked to describe the interaction through the concentration field.