Re: What is the maximum size for a drop of water?


rev.goetz wrote:
In some cases, combining 2 drops of water make a bigger drop of water.
But what is the maximum size for a drop of water? Seriously, I assume
that there is some physical constraint for the size of a drop of water.

Having read ahead, you want to formalize the question better.

One way to do this is to specify the source for forming droplets.

If you consider the end of a narrow tube with water slowly
flowing out of it, you can ask how big the droplet gets
before it falls. If you know the flow rate of the water, and
if evaporation is neglibible, you can could the number
of drops per some time period and get an average drop
size. You can also look at the frequency of drops and
get a distribution in there size.

Now, if you change the nature of the end of the tube the
water is flowing out of, it turns out the results can change.
You referred to gravity elsewhere. This matters too.

Basically, the water at the end of the tube sticks together
according ot surface tension until the force from the
weight of the water in the droplet exceeds the effect
of the surface tension holding it together. You have to
do some geometrical analysis to figure out the net
surface tension and it turns out that the interaction
with the surface of the outlet tube can play a
significant part. It also matters how fast the water is
flowing in the first place, fast flowing water has enough
momentum to counter effects of surface tension
that tend to drive the water to form in spherical
droplets.

There are lots of other ways to modulate the ways
that flowing solvents leave tube. You can chemically
adjust the surface tension by adjusting the composition
of the solvent. It is also possible to apply a current
and so apply a charge to the liquid so there there is
a repelling force. This is actually an important
phenominon in a number of chemical engineering
applications where one wants to create a fine
aerosol. A Nobel prize was awarded to John Fenn
in 2002 for a related bit of science.

.

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