Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Impacts of Free-falling Spheres on a Deep Liquid Pool with Altered Fluid and Impactor Surface Conditions
Published on: February 17, 2019
Universal and scaling behavior at the proximity of the solid to the deformable air-water interface
1State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, and Department of Physics, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Abstract:
The scaling descriptions of the deformation of the air-water interface due to van der Waals attractive forces induced by a paraboloid shaped solid as well as of the force vs distance behavior are systematically discussed theoretically and experimentally. It is demonstrated that the force-distance curves at the proximity of the solid to the air-water interface without contact satisfy a simple and universal scaling law, which can be useful to help study various systems involved in the deformable interface. Moreover, an analytical solution to the E-L differential equation governing the deformation of the water surface profile is obtained from the scaling relation, and the two length scales that quantitatively evaluate the lateral and longitudinal deformation of the air-water interface respectively are hence determined.
Related Concept Videos
Typical Model Studies
Surface Tension of Fluid
Surface tension varies with...
Modeling and Similitude
Hydrostatic Pressure Force on a Curved Surface
Characteristics of Fluids
Characteristics of Fluids
Fluids, which include both liquids and gases, are substances that deform continuously under shearing stress. For example, water and oil are liquids with molecules that can...

