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Related Concept Videos

Viscosity01:17

Viscosity

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When water is poured into a glass, it falls freely and quickly, whereas if honey or maple syrup is poured over a pancake, it flows slowly and sticks to the surface of the container. This difference in the flow of different kinds of liquids arises due to the fluid friction between the liquid layers and the liquid and the surrounding material. This property of fluids is called fluid viscosity. In this example, water has a lower viscosity than honey and maple syrup.
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Capillarity in Fluid01:19

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Capillarity describes the movement of liquid in small spaces without external forces acting on it. The capillarity is driven by surface tension and adhesive interactions between the liquid and surrounding solid surfaces. This effect is often seen in narrow tubes, porous materials, and fine particles.
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Viscosity of Fluid01:19

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Viscosity measures the resistance a fluid offers to flow and deformation. It results from internal friction between layers of fluid moving relative to one another. Dynamic viscosity, denoted by the Greek letter mu (μ), quantifies the force needed to move one fluid layer over another. For Newtonian fluids like water and air, the relationship between the shearing stress and the rate of shearing strain is linear, meaning their viscosity remains constant regardless of the applied stress.
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Fluid dynamics is the study of fluids in motion. Velocity vectors are often used to illustrate fluid motion in applications like meteorology. For example, wind—the fluid motion of air in the atmosphere—can be represented by vectors indicating the speed and direction of the wind at any given point on a map. Another method for representing fluid motion is a streamline. A streamline represents the path of a small volume of fluid as it flows. When the flow pattern changes with time, the...
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Surface Tension
The various IMFs between identical molecules of a substance are examples of cohesive forces. The molecules within a liquid are surrounded by other molecules and are attracted equally in all directions by the cohesive forces within the liquid. However, the molecules on the surface of a liquid are attracted only by about one-half as many molecules. Because of the unbalanced molecular attractions on the surface molecules, liquids contract to form a shape that minimizes the number...
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Visualization of High Speed Liquid Jet Impaction on a Moving Surface
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Fluid interfaces with very sharp tips in viscous flow.

Sylvain Courrech du Pont1, Jens Eggers2

  • 1Laboratoire Matière et Systèmes Complexes, Université de Paris, CNRS, 75205 Paris cedex 13, France.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|December 8, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Fluid interfaces subjected to viscous flow form sharp, conical tips, enabling microfluidic jetting. This study reveals how tip shape scales with flow strength, crucial for controlling micrometer-sized drop production.

Keywords:
free surface flowsmicrofluidicsselective withdrawalsingularities

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Area of Science:

  • Fluid dynamics
  • Microfluidics
  • Surface physics

Background:

  • Fluid interfaces under strong viscous flow develop sharp, near-conical tips.
  • These sharp tips are essential for generating fine jets and micrometer-sized drops in microfluidic devices.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To theoretically investigate the scaling of the opening angle of conical fluid interfaces.
  • To determine the relationship between tip curvature and external flow strength.
  • To calculate the universal shape of the interface near the tip.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical analysis of fluid interface dynamics under viscous flow.
  • Development of an analytical technique based on surface integrals.
  • Experimental validation of theoretical predictions.

Main Results:

  • The opening angle of the conical interface exhibits logarithmic scaling with distance from the tip due to nonlocal flow coupling.
  • Tip curvature grows exponentially with the square of the external flow strength.
  • A universal shape for the fluid interface near the tip was calculated and experimentally confirmed.

Conclusions:

  • The study provides a theoretical framework and experimental validation for the shape of fluid interfaces under strong viscous flow.
  • The findings offer insights into controlling drop formation in microfluidic applications.
  • The analytical technique has potential applications in areas like electrosprays involving electric fields.