As a droplet touches a liquid surface it bounces gently, kept afloat momentarily by a thin air cushion. As the air dissipates the droplet comes in contact with the liquid. The droplet undergoes a multi-step coalescence journey: with each interaction, it merges and reduces in size, transitioning into a... smaller droplet, until it eventually fully merges with the liquid below.show more

This is beautiful, thank you for sharing.

The phenomenon can also be reproduced with soap bubbles on a soap film! @YouTube @AIP_Publishing

Fascinating! The droplet's journey is a delicate dance with physics 👍

There’s a whole field in science of walking droplets that act like Quantum Mechanics:

This process of droplet coalescence is intriguing

Why is this so satisfying to watch

The interplay between surface tension, the presence of an air cushion, and the gradual loss of the air cushion leads to the bouncing and subsequent coalescence of the droplet with the liquid.

Exponential decay!

😱 hope I dont have to solve the fluid dynamics pde for this to pass fluid dynamics 101 🤭

@FluidDanamics This process can have myriads of different outcomes based on surface tension of the merging interfaces.