<< When a drop of a volatile liquid is deposited on a uniformly heated wettable, thermally conducting substrate, one expects to see it spread into a thin film and evaporate. >>️
<< Contrary to this intuition, due to thermal Marangoni contraction, the deposited drop contracts into a spherical-cap-shaped puddle, with a finite apparent contact angle. Strikingly, this contracted droplet, above a threshold temperature, well below the boiling point of the liquid, starts to spontaneously move on the substrate in an apparently erratic way. >>️
Pallav Kant, Mathieu Souzy, et al. Autothermotaxis of volatile drops. Phys. Rev. Fluids 9, L012001. Jan 31, 2024.
Rachel Berkowitz. Hot Surfaces Make Droplets Move Erratically. Physics 17, s14. Jan 31, 2024.
Also: drop, bubble, erratic
Keywords: gst, drop, bubble, erratic, thermotaxis, autothermotaxis
