Surface tension

John W. M. Bush
Department of Mathematics
MIT
 The history of surface tension

First studies ! the dynamics of wine (Thomson 1855)

! modeling celestial bodies (Plateau 1873)

Geophysics ! the dynamics of raindrops

! mixing in the surf zone

Modern engineering applications

! inkjet printing, spray atomization

! manufacturing on the micro- and nanoscale

! biomimicry and water-repellant surfaces

 Surface Tension: molecular origins
! each molecule in a fluid feels a cohesive force with surrounding molecules

! molecules at interface feel half this force; are in an energetically unfavorable state

! the creation of new surface is thus energetically costly

AIR σ
WATER
2R

€radius R in bulk is U, at surface is U/2

! cohesive energy per molecule of

! surface tension is this loss of cohesive energy per unit area:

U ENERGY FORCE
σ~ 2 Units: [σ ] = =
R AREA LENGTH

! air-water σ ~ 70 dyne/cm; oils σ ~ 20 dyne/cm; liquid metals σ ~ 500 dyne/cm

Surface tension: analogous to a negative surface pressure

! gradients in surface tension necessarily drive surface motion

force
σ =
length

€
P = F/A
 L

F ORCE EN ERGY
Surface tension: [σ] =
LEN GT H
=
AREA
!
Surface energy: Eσ = σ dA = 2 σ L x
S
dEσ
Force acting on rod: F = = 2σL
dx
 The creation of surface is energetically costly
• quasi-static soap films (for which gravity, inertia are negligible)
take the form of minimal surfaces

• hence their interest to mathematicians:

“Find the minimal surface bound by the multiply

connected curve C, where C ....”
Minimal surfaces: surface energy minimized
The wet hair instability: threads clump to minimize surface energy
 Surface tension: Geometry
Along a contour C bounding a surface S there is a tensile force
per unit length σ acting in the s direction

g σ S
air
ℓ ℓ + Δℓ
€ €
ρ,µ liquid
€€
€
Net force on S: ∫ σ s dℓ = ∫∫ σ (∇ ⋅ n) n dS + ∫∫ ∇σ dS
C S S
€ curvature
pressure
Marangoni
stress

1) normal curvature pressure σ ∇ ⋅ n resists surface deformation

€
2) tangential Marangoni stresses may arise from ∇σ
 Governing Equations
Navier-Stokes equations:
&∂ u )
ρ( + u⋅∇ u+ = −∇p + ρ g + µ ∇ 2 u , ∇ ⋅u = 0
'∂t *

Boundary Conditions
Normal stress: n⋅ T⋅ n | = σ ∇ ⋅ n
Tangential stress: n ⋅ T ⋅ s | = ∇s σ

€ Stress tensor
n € T = − pI + µ ( ∇u+ (∇u)T )
g
air σ s
liqui ρ,µ
Curvature pressures, σ ∇ ⋅ n , make the surface behave as a trampoline.

€
 The soap boat
! driven by a surface tension gradient

σ − Δσ

€ σ

€
The cocktail boat:
fueled by alcohol
Nakata (2006)
 The tears of wine

The first `Marangoni flow’ studied scientifically (Thomson 1855).

 tears
low c
evap.
Marangoni high σ
stress

wine
€ dσ
<0
dc

The Tears of Wine

“Who hath sorrow? Who hath woe? They that tarry long€at the wine.
Look not though upon the strong red wine that moveth itself aright.
At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder.”
- Proverbs 23: 29-32 (c.a. 950 BC)
King Solomon, “the wisest man that ever lived”.
Proverbs 23: 29-32
When is surface tension important relative to gravity?

• when curvature pressures large relative to hydrostatic:

ρga2
Bond number: Bo = < 1
σ
i.e. for drops small relative to the capillary length:
! "1/2
σ
a < lc = ∼ 2 mm for air-water
ρg
Bo > 1
Bo ! 1
g σ
a ρ
Falling drops
Force balance:
2 2 4 3
ρa U a ∼ M g = πa ρg
3
! "1/2
ρ
Fall speed: U ∼ ga
ρa
Drop integrity requires:

ρa U 2 /a = ρga < σ/a

Small drops
If a drop is small relative to
the capillary length

a < ℓ c = σ / ρg ≈ 2mm ,
σ maintains it against the
destabilizing influence of
aerodynamic stresses.
 Big drops

Drops larger than the capillary

length

a > ℓ c ≈ 2mm

break up under the influence of

aerodynamic stresses.
€

The break-up yields drops with

size of order:

ℓ c ≈ 2mm

€
 Fluid statics and the curvature force

Recall

Normal stress condition: Δ n ⋅ T⋅ n = σ (∇ ⋅ n)

Tangential stress condition: Δ n ⋅ T⋅ t = ∇σ

€
where T = − pI + µ ( ∇u+ (∇u)T )
€
 Fluid Statics ˆ = -pˆ I
T = −pI , T

Normal stress balance: pˆ − p = σ ∇ ⋅ n

€ balance:
Tangential stress 0 = ∇σ

€
Stationary bubble: what is the pressure drop across a bubble surface?
€

2σ
pˆ − p = σ ∇ ⋅ n =
R σ n
R
pˆ
! smaller bubbles burst more loudly than large ones
p
€ €
! champagne is louder than beer €
Capillary pressure

Which way does the air go?

Who cares about surface tension?
Raindrops strike a puddle

The coalescence cascade.

 Static 2D meniscus
Young-Laplace equation
σ
ρ gη = σ ∇ ⋅ n

Define: f(x,z) = z − η(x)

€ ρ
∇f z − ηx (x)x
so that n= =
∇f [1 + ηx2 (x)]1/ 2
€
ηxx
and ∇⋅n = 2 3/2
≈ ηxx
€ provided ηx << 1
(1 + ηx )
€
Linearized: ρ g η(x) = σ ηxx BCs: ηx (0) = −cot θ , η(∞) = 0

€
€ η(x) = ℓ c cot θ exp(−x /ℓ c )
1/ 2
€ $σ '
Meniscus decays exponentially over the capillary length ℓc = & )
€ % ρg (
Heavy things sink, light things float.

Not exactly…..
Statics of floating bodies

Force balance on body:

Mg = ∫ -p nˆ ⋅ zˆ dℓ = Fb + FC
C €

Buoyancy: Fb = ∫ ρ g z (nˆ ⋅ zˆ ) dℓ = ρ g V c
C

Curvature: Fc = ∫ σ ∇ ⋅ nˆ (nˆ ⋅ zˆ ) dℓ = σ (tˆ1 + ˆ

t ) ˆ
2 ⋅ z = 2σ sin θ
c
dtˆ
€via Frenet-Serret equation: (∇ ⋅ nˆ ) nˆ =
dℓ
 ⇒ Fb = ρ g Vc = wt. of fluid displaced above body
⇒ Fc = 2σ sin θ = ρgVM = wt. of fluid above meniscus

Fb Vc r $ σ '1/ 2
⇒ = ≈
Fc VM Lc where Lc = & ) ≈ 0.3 cm
% ρg (

⇒ small objects (eg. insects) can be supported by σ

€
€
Static weight support requires: M g < 2 σ P cosθ
where P is total contact length
 Surface Tension in Biology

In all things of Nature, there is something of the marvelous.

- Aristotle
 Motivation: who cares about surface tension?

As we have seen, surface tension dominates gravity

on a scale less than the capillary length, ~2 mm.

Biology
• all small creatures live in a world dominated by surface tension
• surface tension important for insects for many basic functions
• weight support and propulsion at the water surface
• adhesion and deadhesion via surface tension
• the pistol shrimp: hunting with bubbles (VIDEO)
• the archer fish: hunting with drops
• underwater breathing and diving via surface tension
• natural strategies for water-repellency in plants and animals
• the hydraulics of trees
Hunting with bubbles

The Pistol Shrimp

Walking on water
 Water-walkers in the tree of life (over 1200 species)

Motivation: foraging on water surface, avoidance of predators

 Water-walking

Mc > 1

McMahon, 1996
 Mg Mg

=1
Ba = <1 Ba = >1
σP σP

Ba
Static weight
support
€ € Dynamic weight
support

σP

Mg
Biological classification

! made along evolutionary grounds

Dynamic classification

! group according to propulsion mechanism

! evaluate relative magnitudes of hydrodynamic forces

 Dynamic classification
of water-walkers
a
A U

FH ~ ρgVs + ρU 2 A + ρV dU
dt
+ ρνUa + σ (∇⋅ n ) A − ∇σ A

buoyancy form acceleration viscous curvature Marangoni

drag reaction drag

Mathematician: which terms can I discard to get a tractable equation?

Physicist: which forces are used by which creatures?

every force is used by some creature

 ρgz A ρVdU/dt ρU2A σ∇⋅ n A ∇σ A

Surface
slapping
Rowing &
walking
Surface
distortion €

Marangoni
propulsion
Clark’s Grebe: clip courtesy of “Winged Migration”
Common Skittering Frog; Walking on water

Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis

BBC’s Natural World, April 2013

42
Courtesy of National Geographic
 ρgz A ρVdU/dt ρU2A σ∇⋅ n A ∇σ A

Surface
slapping
Rowing &
walking
Surface
distortion €

Marangoni
propulsion

quasi − static propulsion

Tangential stress, ∇σ, may drive lateral motion.

Marangoni propulsion: insect uses lipid as fuel.

 ρgz A ρVdU/dt ρU2A σ∇⋅ n A ∇σ A

Surface
slapping
Rowing &
walking
Surface
distortion €

Marangoni
propulsion

quasi − static propulsion

3 mm
 Capillary forces: The Cheerios effect

! exist between objects floating at a free surface

! attractive/repulsive for meniscii of the same/opposite sense

air ATTRACTION
bubble REPULSION
σ

water particle

! explains the formation of bubble rafts in champagne

! explains the attraction of Cheerios in a bowl of milk

! used by small insects to move themselves along the free surface

Meniscus climbing Hu & Bush (Nature, 2005)

• Anurida arches its back to match curvature of meniscus

• anomalous surface energy exceeds GPE associated with climb
 Meniscus-climbing: Energetics

H σ A1 A2
M1 M2

€ €
Body climbs provided total €
energy minimized:
€ €

σ (A1 + A2 ) + M1gh1 + M 2 gh2 > MgH

 Physical Picture

Andersen 1976

• exploit attraction between like-signed menisci

• pull up with front legs to generate lateral force
• pull up with rear legs to balance torque
• push down with middle legs to support weight
Other uses for capillary attraction
 ρgz A ρVdU/dt ρU2A σ∇⋅ n A ∇σ A

Surface
slapping
Rowing &
walking
Surface
distortion €

Marangoni
propulsion

quasi − static propulsion

 Water strider combat/courtship

Surface tension sets the upper bound on the size of

water-walking insects.
Flying

Rowing

Swimming

Dickinson (2003)
SUMMARY

Hsieh & Lauder (2004)

“And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea,
they were troubled, saying, `It is a spirit’;
and they cried out for fear.”

- Matthew 14:26, King James version

 Can man walk on water?
Imagine a man of weight M = 70 kg who can run at U = 10 m/s.
A
How big must his feet be to walk on water?

P
Option 1: use surface tension σ = 70 dynes/cm
Vertical force balance: Mg = σP
Mg
€
Requires feet with perimeter: P = ≈ 10 km
σ
Option 2: run via slapping
€ mode
Vertical force balance:
€ M g = ρ U 2A

Requires feet with area: A ≈ 1 m2

Power requirements: unaided, a man would need to run 30 m/s and generate 15 times
€
as much muscle power (Glasheen & McMahon 1996)
€
Flotation devices required….

Mizugo Ninja, 12th century Leonardo da Vinci

Hydrodynamic quantum analogs
 A hydrodynamic metaphor

“Light corpuscles generate waves in an Aethereal Medium, just like a stone

thrown onto water generates waves. In addition, these corpuscles may be
alternately accelerated and retarded by the waves.”
- Newton, Opticks (1704)
 Quantum mechanics
• a theory that describes the statistics of microscopic particles
• fails to describe particle trajectories — or flatly denies that they exist

The free particle:

E=~! p = ~k

• an association of particle with a wave

But where is the particle, and why does it move?

• an insistence on the completeness of a trajectory-free quantum mechanics

has lead to longstanding difficulties

— the proliferation of quantum interpretations

— an abundance of paradoxes and troubling language
“It is entirely possible that future generations will look back,
from the vantage point of a more sophisticated theory, and
wonder how we could have been so gullible.”

- D. J. Griffiths
 Hydrodynamic quantum analogs
• in 2005, Couder and Fort discovered a hydrodynamic pilot-wave system
in which a particle moves in resonance with a guiding wave

• the first macroscopic realization of the double-solution pilot-wave

dynamics proposed by Louis de Broglie in the 1920s
• exhibits several features of quantum systems thought to be exclusive to
the microscopic, quantum realm

THE QUESTIONS RAISED

What are the key dynamical features responsible for the
quantum-like behavior?

What are the potential and limitations of this hydrodynamic

system as a quantum analog?

Can it guide us towards a rational theory for quantum dynamics?

 Faraday (1831)
Faraday waves
• surface undulations with twice the forcing period, a parametric instability

• arise above a threshold F that depends on fluid depth, viscosity, surface tension

σ
g frequency f
ρ, ν
amplitude A

> F ⇡ 4g
Vibrational acceleration: = A(2⇡f )2
 Noncoalescence on a vibrated fluid bath
Jearl Walker (1978), Protière et al. (2005)
• coalescence avoided provided impact time is less than time required for
air layer between drop and bath to drain to ~100 nm

f ~ 50 Hz

50cS
Si oil

• owing to surface tension, interface behaves effectively as a linear spring

Gilet & Bush (2009ab)
 The Couder walker Couder et al. (2005)

• resonance condition: drop bounces at Faraday frequency

• resonant bouncing droplets may be destabilized by their wave field, walk
• spatially extended walkers consist of both droplet and guiding/pilot wave
• dynamics is non-Markovian, hereditary: wave force depends on walker’s history
• proximity to Faraday threshold prescribes longevity of waves, `path memory’
Eddi et al. (2011)
Strobed pilot-wave dynamics

• strobe the system once per bounce cycle

• conceals the vertical dynamics responsible for the guiding wave
• drop appears to surf on the interface, dressed by a quasi-monochromatic pilot-
wave field that is stationary in the drop’s frame of reference
 Static bound states
• multiple droplets lock into phase, interact through their wave fields

• bond lengths quantized by wave field

Eddi et al. (2009), Couchman et al. (2019)

 Dynamic bound states
Promenading pairs
• bond lengths quantized by wave field

Orbiting pairs
 Couchman & Bush (2020)
Rings
A of bouncing
ring droplets
of bouncing droplets bound
Thomson, in an annulus
Couchman & Bush (2020)
Quantum mechanics writ large
Single-particle diffraction and interference Couder & Fort (2005)

Single slit

“ A phenomenon which is Double slit

impossible, absolutely
impossible, to explain in any
classical way, and which has
in it the heart of quantum
mechanics. In reality, it
contains the only mystery.”
- Richard Feynman

• coherent, wave-like statistics emerge from chaotic pilot-wave dynamics

• results contested by Bohr & coworkers (2015, 2016), revisited by Pucci et al. (2017)
 75 A

The quantum corral

Crommie, Lutz & Eigler (1993)

Fiete & Heller (2003)

• de Broglie waves evident in the pdf

of a sea of electrons trapped on a
metal surface, excited by an SEM
Droplet walking in a circular corral
 Probability density function

Harris, Moukhtar, Fort, Couder & Bush (2013)

• pdf similar to the amplitude of the Faraday wave mode of the cavity
• coherent, wave-like statistics emerge from chaotic pilot-wave dynamics
 Emerging physical picture:
3 time scales
• fast dynamics: bouncing at resonance
creates monochromatic wave field

• intermediate (strobed) pilot-wave

dynamics: droplet rides its
instantaneous guiding wave

• long-term statistical behaviour described

by Faraday wave modes
 De Broglie’s relativistic pilot-wave theory
• an attempt to reconcile relativity and QM through consideration of the
wave nature of matter

Einstein-de Broglie relation: E = m c2 RELATIVITY

E=~! QM

Natural mc2 Compton

frequency !c =
~ frequency

But what is happening at this frequency?

• de Broglie suggested an exchange between rest mass energy and field energy

• in modern QFT, this sets the time and length scale of particle pair production
de Broglie’s pilot-wave theory: The double-wave solution
“ A freely moving body follows a trajectory that is orthogonal
to the surfaces of an associated wave guide”.
- Louis de Broglie (1892-1987)

• Ψ is the probability wave, as prescribed by standard quantum theory

• = | | ei /~ is a real physical wave responsible for guiding the particle

• wave generated by internal particle vibration m0 c2

(Zitterbewegung) at the Compton frequency:
ωc =
h̄

• a solution of Klein-Gordon equation triggered by oscillations in rest mass

• particle follows point of constant wave amplitude: his guidance equation yields

p = m0 xp = r = ~k for a monochromatic wave =k·x !t

• Harmony of Phases: the particle oscillates in resonance with its guiding wave

• wave generation mechanism, form of not specified

de Broglie’s pilot-wave theory

• fast dynamics: mass oscillations at

m0 c2
ωc = create wave field
h̄
centered on particle

• intermediate pilot-wave dynamics:

particle rides its guiding wave field
such that
p=~k
Fiete & Heller (2003)

• long-term statistical behaviour described

by standard quantum theory
 de Broglie Walkers

WAVE
TRIGGER ZITTERBEWEGUNG Bouncing

2 r
VIBRATION mo c
ωc = !d =
FREQUENCY
h̄ ⇢a3

WAVES Matter waves / Higgs field Capillary Faraday

WAVE-PARTICLE
RESONANCE Harmony of phases !d = !F

~!
WAVE
ENERGETICS mc2 <latexit sha1_base64="B6B8/qAHa3fZKtuuYpw8/CGLNhU=">AAAB83icbVDLSgNBEOyNrxhfUY9eBoPgKeyqoMegF48RzAOyS5idzCZD5rHMzAphyW948aCIV3/Gm3/jJNmDJhY0FFXddHfFKWfG+v63V1pb39jcKm9Xdnb39g+qh0dtozJNaIsornQ3xoZyJmnLMstpN9UUi5jTTjy+m/mdJ6oNU/LRTlIaCTyULGEEWyeF4SjGGoVK0CHuV2t+3Z8DrZKgIDUo0OxXv8KBIpmg0hKOjekFfmqjHGvLCKfTSpgZmmIyxkPac1RiQU2Uz2+eojOnDFCitCtp0Vz9PZFjYcxExK5TYDsyy95M/M/rZTa5iXIm08xSSRaLkowjq9AsADRgmhLLJ45gopm7FZER1phYF1PFhRAsv7xK2hf14LIePFzVGrdFHGU4gVM4hwCuoQH30IQWEEjhGV7hzcu8F+/d+1i0lrxi5hj+wPv8Aa9bkXM=</latexit>

M gH Surface Energy

KEY PARAMETER h̄ σ
STATISTICAL
WAVELENGTH B λF
VIBRATION
LENGTH c = h/mc STEP SIZE
 BIG PICTURE
• the landscape before PWH: classical mechanics and quantum mechanics

Classical
Quantum
Mechanics
Mechanics
 BIG PICTURE
• enter pilot-wave hydrodynamics

Classical
Mechanics

QM

PWH HQAs
 BIG PICTURE
• enter the Generalized Pilot-wave Framework

GPWF
PWH

Jitter
Spin

QM
 BIG PICTURE

QM

GPWF

HQAs
PWH
Zitter
Spin

HQFT p=~k
 Wave-particle duality

“Both matter and radiation possess a remarkable duality of character, as they

sometimes exhibit the properties of waves, at other times those of particles.

Now it is obvious that a thing cannot be a form of wave motion and composed
of particles at the same time - the two concepts are too different.”

— Heisenberg, On Quantum Mechanics, 1930

Thanks!
 “I am, in fact, rather firmly convinced that the essentially statistical nature
of contemporary quantum theory is solely to be ascribed to the fact that it
operates with an incomplete description of physical systems.”

“In a complete physical description, the statistical quantum theory would

take an approximately analogous position to statistical mechanics within
the framework of classical mechanics.”

- Albert Einstein