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Microgravity makes fully mobile droplets measurable

Experiments conducted in Earth’s orbit have probed the complicated dynamics of moving droplets by circumventing the size limits imposed by gravity. The findings could lead to improved microchip fabrication techniques.
By
  1. Michelle M. Driscoll

    1. Michelle M. Driscoll is in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.

Understanding how a raindrop runs down a window pane seems like a simple task, but the physics involved is surprisingly complex. And testing models for the mechanics of sliding droplets is no mean feat either, because microscopic surface defects almost always get in the way, making it difficult to create conditions in which the liquid can move freely. In Physical Review Letters, McCraney et al.1 report a clever way of overcoming this problem by conducting experiments on the International Space Station (ISS). Removing the limiting effects of gravity enabled the authors to create much larger droplets than would be possible on Earth, allowing them to validate existing models for freely moving droplets, and paving the way to extending these models to complex processes such as splashing.

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Nature 609, 247-248 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02342-2

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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