What Happens to a Fluid Drop in a Vacuum? Insights from Recent Studies

[256bits]

TL;DR

In air, a drop of fluid hitting a surface will splash.
In vacuum, there is no splash.

Any one know about this.
Quite unexpected, for the researchers, the video guy, and me.

Not sure where to post. It could be pertinent for material science and chemical engineering under low pressure.



A link to the study in the video.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0501149

Quanta Magazine tidbits.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/finding-beauty-and-truth-in-mundane-occurrences-20250509/

 

[hutchphd]

This is very counterintuitive ! Has no one noticed this previously ? What if the drop falls onto a liquid surface ?
Gobsmacked, I am.

 

[A.T.]

Any one know about this.

Yeah, for 20 years. From this forum.

M

Undergrad Thread 'Interesting, water wont spash in a vaccum'

Mar 31, 2005

Interesting, water won't spash in a vacuum

HERE'S a Zen-like question. If a drop of liquid falls on a flat surface and there is no air around it, does it make a splash?

The answer, which may or may not help you reach nirvana, is no. "This was to us an incredibly surprising result," says Sidney Nagel of the University of Chicago in Illinois. "If you didn't have the air, you couldn't splash. This means you would never get splashing on the moon."

Nagel and fellow physicists Lei Xu and Wendy Zhang were trying to measure the energy of liquid droplets flying away from...

• mapper
• Interesting Water
• Replies: 17
• Forum: Mechanics