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Updated: May 18, 2026

High Speed Droplet-based Delivery System for Passive Pumping in Microfluidic Devices
Published on: September 2, 2009
Dripping faucet dynamics is determined by synchronization of drop oscillations and detachment
Ariel Shemesh1, Solange Akselrod, Ziv Reich
1Abramson Center for Medical Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
Abstract:
A dripping faucet is an example of an everyday system that exhibits surprisingly rich dynamics ranging from periodic to chaotic. Using a simple capacitive device, we experimentally demonstrate that the dynamics is determined by the degree of synchronization between two temporally disparate processes: the time at which a drop attains a critical mass and an oscillatory process that accompanies the formation of a drop. We present a full experimental phase-space reconstruction of the ensuing dynamics.
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