Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 26, 2025

Fabrication, Operation and Flow Visualization in Surface-acoustic-wave-driven Acoustic-counterflow Microfluidics
Published on: August 27, 2013
Acoustic Sensing of Forces Driving Fast Capillary Flows
Adrien Bussonnière1,2, Arnaud Antkowiak1, François Ollivier1
1Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Institut Jean Le Rond d'Alembert, F-75005 Paris, France.
Abstract:
The popping sound of a bursting soap bubble is acquired using microphone arrays and analyzed using spherical harmonics decomposition. Using the theoretical framework of aeroacoustics, we demonstrate that this acoustic emission originates mainly from the capillary stresses exerted by the liquid soap film on the air and that it quantitatively reflects the out-of-equilibrium evolution of the flowing liquid film. This constitutes the proof of concept that the acoustic signature of violent events of physical or biological origin could be used to measure the forces at play during these events.
Related Concept Videos
Rapidly Varying Flow
Capillarity in Fluid
Surface tension is crucial to capillarity. It results from cohesive forces between liquid molecules at the liquid-air boundary, forming a skin that resists external forces. When the capillary tube...
Pressure Variation in a Fluid at Rest
When measuring pressure at two different levels within the fluid, the difference in...
Pressure of Fluids
Deriving the Speed of Sound in a Liquid
The speed of sound in fluids can be derived by considering a mechanical wave...
Measurement of Fluid Pressure
A basic form of manometer is the piezometer, a vertical tube open at the top and filled with the same...

