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Updated: Jun 1, 2026

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Published on: December 2, 2022
Role of particle inertia in adsorption at fluid-liquid interfaces
P Singh1, D D Joseph, I S Fischer
1Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey 07102, USA.
Abstract:
It is shown that the inertia of a particle plays an important role in its motion in the direction normal to a fluid-liquid interface, and in determining its adsorption trajectory and orientation in the adsorbed state. Although the importance of inertia diminishes with decreasing particle size, on an air-water interface the inertia continues to be important even when the size is as small as a few nanometers. Furthermore, similar to an underdamped system, an adsorbed particle has characteristic linear and rotational frequencies that can be excited by an external forcing.
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