Events in Physics
Petr Denissenko, Warwick
Location: PS1.28
Floaters, waves, and the surface tension
We argue theoretically and demonstrate experimentally that
in a standing wave floating particles drift towards the nodes
or anti-nodes depending on their hydrophilic or hydrophobic
properties. We explain this effect as the breakdown of
Archimedes law by a surface tension, which creates a
difference between the masses of the floater and displaced
liquid, making the particle effectively inertial.
We show analytically and confirm experimentally that the
We show analytically and confirm experimentally that the
drift appears as a second order effect in wave amplitude. We
investigate how the inertial effects change the statistics of
floater distribution in the case of random surface waves.