Breakup of Liquid Filaments

Whether a thin filament of liquid separates into two or more droplets or eventually condenses lengthwise to form a single larger drop depends on the liquid's density, viscosity, and surface tension and on the initial dimensions of the filament. Surface tension drives two competing processes, pinching-off and shortening, and the relative time scales of these, controlled by the balance between capillary and viscous forces, determine the final outcome. Here we provide experimental evidence for the conditions under which a liquid filament will break up into drops, in terms of a wide range of two dimensionless quantities: the aspect ratio of the filament and the Ohnesorge number. Filaments which do not break up into multiple droplets demand a high liquid viscosity or a small aspect ratio.