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Related Concept Videos

Electrostatic Boundary Conditions01:16

Electrostatic Boundary Conditions

Consider an external electric field propagating through a homogeneous medium. When the electric field crosses the surface boundary of the medium, it undergoes a discontinuity. The electric field can be resolved into normal and tangential components. The amount by which the field changes at any boundary is given by the difference between the field components above and below the surface boundary.
The surface integral of an electric field is given by Gauss's law in integral form and is related to...
Electric Field of a Charged Disk01:23

Electric Field of a Charged Disk

The simplest case of a surface charge distribution is the uniformly charged disk. Calculating its electric field also helps us calculate the electric field of a large plane of charge.
The system's symmetry is in the cylindrical directions across the plane of the charge. As a result, the electric fields created by various surface charge elements nullify each other in the direction parallel to the surface. Thereby, the resulting electric field is perpendicular to the plane. Since the disk is...
Dielectric Polarization in a Capacitor01:31

Dielectric Polarization in a Capacitor

The presence of a dielectric medium in a capacitor not only changes the voltage and capacitance but also affects the electric field. In general, dielectrics can be of two types: polar and nonpolar. In a polar dielectric, the positive and negative charges in the molecules are separated by a distance and hence have a permanent dipole moment. In contrast, no such charge separation exists in a nonpolar dielectric, however the nonpolar molecules get polarized in the presence of an external electric...
Electrostatic Boundary Conditions in Dielectrics01:27

Electrostatic Boundary Conditions in Dielectrics

When an electric field passes from one homogeneous medium to another, crossing the boundary between the two mediums imparts a discontinuity in the electric field. This results in electrostatic boundary conditions that depend on the type of mediums the field propagates through.
Consider a case where both the mediums across a boundary are two different dielectric materials. Recall that the electric field and electric displacement are proportional and related through the material's permittivity.
Electric Field of Two Equal and Opposite Charges01:30

Electric Field of Two Equal and Opposite Charges

Atoms generally contain the same number of positively and negatively charged particles, protons, and electrons. Hence, they are electrically neutral. However, the centers of the positive and negative charges do not always coincide. In such a scenario, the electric field of an atom may not be zero.
A separation of the positive and negative charges can lead to a weak, remnant effect of the positive and negative charges. The expectation is that the more the distance between the positive and...
Electric Field at the Surface of a Conductor01:26

Electric Field at the Surface of a Conductor

Consider a conductor in electrostatic equilibrium. The net electric field inside a conductor vanishes, and extra charges on the conductor reside on its outer surface, regardless of where they originate.
In the 19th century, Michael Faraday conducted the famous ice pail experiment to prove that the charges always reside on the surface of a conductor. The experimental set-up consists of a conducting uncharged container mounted on an insulating stand. The outer surface of the container is...

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In Situ Time-dependent Dielectric Breakdown in the Transmission Electron Microscope: A Possibility to Understand the Failure Mechanism in Microelectronic Devices
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Catastrophic drop breakup in electric field.

Janhavi S Raut1, Sathish Akella, Amitkumar Singh

  • 1Unilever Research India, 64 Main Road, Whitefield, Bangalore-560066, India. janhavi.raut@unilever.com

Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids
|April 2, 2009
PubMed
Summary

Water drops with surfactants undergo catastrophic breakup in electric fields, differing from gradual modes. This novel disintegration is linked to surfactant concentration and interfacial properties.

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In Situ Time-dependent Dielectric Breakdown in the Transmission Electron Microscope: A Possibility to Understand the Failure Mechanism in Microelectronic Devices
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Area of Science:

  • Fluid dynamics
  • Colloid and surface science
  • Electrokinetics

Background:

  • Previous studies on drop breakup in electric fields identified gradual modes like pinch-off and tip-streaming.
  • The behavior of surfactant-laden drops under strong electric fields, particularly concerning catastrophic breakup, remained less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate and characterize a novel mode of catastrophic drop breakup for water-in-oil emulsions containing surfactants under an electric field.
  • To elucidate the underlying mechanisms and thermodynamic parameters governing this distinct breakup phenomenon.

Main Methods:

  • Experimental observation of water drops with surfactants suspended in oil subjected to an electric field (approx. 10^5 V/m).
  • Analysis of breakup dynamics, including time scales and resultant droplet sizes.
  • Thermodynamic analysis involving interfacial tension (sigma) and Gibbs elasticity (epsilon).

Main Results:

  • A new, rapid catastrophic breakup mode was observed, distinct from previously reported gradual breakup mechanisms.
  • Breakup occurred without characteristic pre-breakup deformation, with significantly smaller time scales and droplet sizes.
  • A thermodynamic parameter, (epsilon + sigma), was identified as crucial for determining breakup mode.

Conclusions:

  • The catastrophic breakup is attributed to the combined effects of the electric field inducing tensile stress and the surfactant's non-ductile interface at critical concentrations.
  • A thermodynamic state diagram reveals a critical transition concentration (ctc) above which catastrophic disintegration is possible.
  • The parameter (epsilon + sigma) quantifies the drop's internal stress opposing rapid perturbations, dictating the breakup mode.