Tiny and High: Aerosols from Bursting of Oil-coated Bubbles

Pop, pop, pop. The oil drops cling tightly on the surface of the bubbles giving them a ride up, and at the effervescent and unrestful water surface, they are finally free in the air where they can view the scene below them - a scene they have never seen before. My research involves blowing bubbles with a structurally compound surface and observing them with high-speed imaging. Here this image demonstrates the time-elapsed photos of the jets from bubbles coated by silicone oil (middle) are concatenated with the ones from bare bubbles in water (left) or a sodium dodecyl sulfate solution (right) to emphasize the unique elegance of the slender jets, which we now call “singular jets”. The jets are shown to emerge due to the dual effect of the oil layer on the bubble surface. After the bubble bursts, they increase the local viscous effect and trigger capillary waves with shorter wavelengths than normal. Both effects help eliminate the hindrance of wave focusing and make the oil jet thin and energetic, producing more small droplets than expected. The small oil droplets can play a very important role in cloud nucleation related to climate and the aerosolization of contaminants.