Shape of a small sessile drop and the determination of contact angle

Stephen B.G.M. O'Brien, Ben H.A.A. Van Den Brule

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Free liquid surfaces in equilibrium are described by the Laplace capillary equation with suitable boundary conditions generally given in terms of the contact angle. By a fortuitous formulation in the axisymmetric case, the second order ordinary differential equation can be reduced to a pair of coupled first-order equations. For the case of a small liquid drop, the present formulation allows perturbation solutions to second order to be derived in closed form. Furthermore the solutions obtained can be used to calculate contact angles, if the height and maximum width of the drop is known, the method being equally simple whether the contact angle is less than or greater than 90°.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1579-1583
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of the Chemical Society, Faraday Transactions
Volume87
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1991
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Shape of a small sessile drop and the determination of contact angle'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this