Image by UltraFeel
Water or H20, it’s a universal solvent that covers 71% of the Earth’s surface, and it is vital for all known forms of life. Imagine that a water droplet rain upon a water surface, then it disappears into the water surface itself, clearly that we can’t seem to see what had actually happened. But if you slow it down, say 2000 fps then perhaps it might shed light upon your perspective on the understanding of the nature of water. There’s more to it than meets the eye.
Why does liquid forms into a drop? Liquid forms drops because the liquid exhibits surface tension. A simple way to form a drop is to allow liquid to flow slowly from the lower end of a vertical tube of small diameter. The surface tension of the liquid causes the liquid to hang from the tube, forming a pendant. When the drop exceeds a certain size it is no longer stable and detaches itself. The falling liquid is also a drop held together by surface tension.
Time Warp had once demonstrated the art and the science behind a gravity-defying free runner, the strange solid liquid non-Newtonian fluid, and the beauty of water droplets (Season 1 Episode 8). Please observe a video below (Cut Version).
As you can see the magnificent droplet bounds, but how? Well, there’s a air layer between the droplet and the water surface, it happens due to surface tension where at the point of contact, they sweep upwards and this, in turn apply a force which leads the droplets off the surface. Putative that you might have ask why does it forms a smaller droplet? Well, when the droplet has made contact with the water, the air is push aside, most of the droplet connects with the below, but this happen so fast that connection is pinch off, thus a smaller droplet is form.
