DOI: 10.1063/1.3518463. Building water bridges in air: Electrohydrodynamics of the floating water bridge

Building water bridges in air: Electrohydrodynamics of the floating water bridge

10.1063/1.3518463

Crossref journal-article

AIP Publishing

Physics of Fluids (317)

Abstract

The interaction of electrical fields and liquids can lead to a phenomenon that defies intuition. Some famous examples can be found in electrohydrodynamics as Taylor cones, whipping jets, or noncoalescing drops. A less famous example is the floating water bridge: a slender thread of water held between two glass beakers in which a high voltage difference is applied. Surprisingly, the water bridge defies gravity even when the beakers are separated at distances up to 2 cm. In this paper, experimental measurements and simple models are proposed and discussed for the stability of the bridge and the source of the flow, revealing an important role of polarization forces on the stability of the water bridge. On the other hand, the observed flow can only be explained due to the non-negligible free charge present in the surface. In this sense, the floating water bridge can be considered as an extreme case of a leaky dielectric liquid [J. R. Melcher and G. I. Taylor, Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 1, 111 (1969)].

Bibliography

MarÃn, Ã. G., & Lohse, D. (2010). Building water bridges in air: Electrohydrodynamics of the floating water bridge. Physics of Fluids, 22(12).

Authors 2

Álvaro G. Marín (first)
Detlef Lohse (additional)

References 34 Referenced 51

10.1098/rspa.1964.0151 / Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A / Dissintegration of water drops in an electric field (1964)
10.1146/annurev.fluid.39.050905.110159 / Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. / The fluid dynamics of Taylor cones (2007)
10.1038/nphys807 / Nat. Phys. / Electrohydrodynamic tip streaming and emission of charged drops from liquid cones (2008)
10.1098/rspa.1969.0205 / Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A / Electrically driven jets (1969)
10.1063/1.1383791 / Phys. Fluids / Electrospinning and electrically forced jets. I. Stability theory (2001)
{'article-title': 'Whipping instability characterization of an electrified visco-capillary jet', 'volume-title': 'J. Fluid Mech.', 'year': '2010', 'key': '2023062902472985700_c6'} / J. Fluid Mech. / Whipping instability characterization of an electrified visco-capillary jet (2010)
10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.164502 / Phys. Rev. Lett. / Critical angle for electrically driven coalescence of two conical droplets (2009)
10.1088/0022-3727/40/19/052 / J. Phys. D / The floating water bridge (2007)
10.1088/0022-3727/41/18/185502 / J. Phys. D / Dynamics of the water floating bridge (2008)
10.1088/0022-3727/42/6/065502 / J. Phys. D / Neutron scattering of a floating heavy water bridge (2009)
10.1007/s00348-009-0718-2 / Exp. Fluids / Experiments in a water floating bridge (2010)
{'key': '2023062902472985700_c12', 'first-page': '10', 'article-title': 'Electrical phenomena', 'volume': '154–155', 'year': '1893', 'journal-title': 'The Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society, The Electrical Engineer'} / The Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society, The Electrical Engineer / Electrical phenomena (1893)
10.1112/plms/s1-10.1.4 / Proc. London Math. Soc. / On the instability of jets (1878)
{'first-page': '207', 'article-title': 'Experimental and theoretical researches on the gures of equilibrium of a liquid mass withdrawn from the action of gravity', 'year': '1863', 'key': '2023062902472985700_c14'} / Experimental and theoretical researches on the gures of equilibrium of a liquid mass withdrawn from the action of gravity (1863)
10.1017/S0022112089002405 / J. Fluid Mech. / Stabilization of dielectric liquid bridges by electric fields in the absence of gravity (1989)
10.1063/1.868103 / Phys. Fluids / Experiments on dielectric liquid bridges subjected to axial electric fields (1994)
10.1017/S0022112001006784 / J. Fluid Mech. / Electrohydrodynamic stability: Taylor–Melcher theory for a liquid bridge suspended in a dielectric gas (2002)
10.1146/annurev.fl.01.010169.000551 / Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. / Electrohydrodynamics: A review of the role of interfacial shear stresses (1969)
{'key': '2023062902472985700_c19', 'first-page': '691', 'article-title': 'Mesure de la force agissant sur les diélectriques liquides non électrisés placés dans un champ élitrique', 'volume': '119', 'year': '1895', 'journal-title': 'C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci.'} / C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. / Mesure de la force agissant sur les diélectriques liquides non électrisés placés dans un champ élitrique (1895)
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10.1017/S0022112099007193 / J. Fluid Mech. / Electrohydrodynamic stability of a liquid bridge: Microgravity experiments on a liquid bridge suspended in a dielectric gas (2000)
10.1098/rspa.1935.0104 / Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A / On the instability of a cylindrical thread of a viscous liquid surrounded by another viscous fluid (1935)
10.1063/1.1692890 / Phys. Fluids / Electrohydrodynamic stability-fluid cylinders in longitudinal electric fields (1970)
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10.1103/PhysRevE.80.016301 / Phys. Rev. E / Theory of the Maxwell pressure tensor and the tension in a water bridge (2009)
10.1063/1.2901274 / Phys. Fluids / Conical tips inside cone-jet electrosprays (2008)
10.1080/00986448808940388 / Chem. Eng. Commun. / The Taylor pump: Viscous-free surface flow driven by electric shear-stress (1988)

Dates

Type	When
Created	14 years, 8 months ago (Dec. 15, 2010, 7:29 p.m.)
Deposited	2 years, 2 months ago (June 28, 2023, 10:47 p.m.)
Indexed	1 month ago (July 30, 2025, 6:55 a.m.)
Issued	14 years, 9 months ago (Dec. 1, 2010)
Published	14 years, 9 months ago (Dec. 1, 2010)
Published Online	14 years, 8 months ago (Dec. 15, 2010)
Published Print	14 years, 9 months ago (Dec. 1, 2010)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Mar_n_2010, title={Building water bridges in air: Electrohydrodynamics of the floating water bridge}, volume={22}, ISSN={1089-7666}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3518463}, DOI={10.1063/1.3518463}, number={12}, journal={Physics of Fluids}, publisher={AIP Publishing}, author={Marín, Álvaro G. and Lohse, Detlef}, year={2010}, month=dec }

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