Coalescence of liquid drops by surface tension -: art. no. 046309

The merging of two mercury drops at very low kinetic energy is observed using fast, digital, and analog imaging techniques. Sequences showing the time evolution of the overall-surface shape as well as an amplified view of the contact region are shown. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons with computations of the Navier-Stokes equation with a free surface are made. In the model, the surface is tracked by a marker-chain method.