Experimental study of a drop bouncing on a liquid surface

The behavior of millimetric drops bouncing on a gas-liquid interface is studied using a high-speed video camera. The bounce time is found to be not dependent on the impact velocity of the drop over a wide range of velocities and is linear with the 1.5th power of the drop diameter. The success probability of drop bounce becomes sensitive to the depth of target liquid once the depth is shallower than five times depth of the maximum crater size, and when the depth is the same as the maximum crater depth, the success probability is greatest. However, the bounce time is insensitive to the liquid depth. The coefficient of restitution is compared to previous experiments done for drops smaller than 1 mm. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3575298]