https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2005-00102-1
The Coulomb instability of charged microdroplets: dynamics and scaling
Institut für Physik, TU Ilmenau, Postfach 100565, 98684 Ilmenau, Germany
Corresponding author: a Thomas.Leisner@tu-ilmenau.de
Received:
6
September
2004
Published online:
13
July
2005
The stability and disintegration dynamics of evaporating highly charged liquid droplets from ethylene glycol and glycerol is investigated by ultrafast microscopy and analyzed as a function of temperature and droplet size. In the moment of instability the droplets have deformed to elongated spindle like shapes from which pairs of opposite jets of highly charged liquid are emitted. The thickness of the jets and the shape of the deformed droplet are remarkably insensitive to the size and viscosity of the unstable droplet, while the speed of disintegration is found to scale with a power law for both variables, the exponent being close to 3/2.
PACS: 52.57.Fg – Implosion symmetry and hydrodynamic instability (Rayleigh-Taylor, Richtmyer-Meshkov, imprint, etc.) / 47.20.-k – Hydrodynamic stability / 36.40.Qv – Stability and fragmentation of clusters
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2005
