Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Capefigue" to "Carneades" / Volume 5, Slice 3

by Various

In another form of the experiment, which, though perhaps less striking to the eye, lends itself better to investigation, the collision takes place between two still unresolved jets issuing horizontally from glass nozzles in communication with reservoirs containing water. One at least of the reservoirs must be insulated. In the absence of dust and greasy contamination, the obliquely colliding jets may rebound from one another without coalescence for a considerable time. In this condition there is complete electrical insulation between the jets, as may be proved by the inclusion in the circuit of a delicate galvanometer, and a low electromotive force. But if the difference of potential exceed a small amount (1 or 2 volts), the jets instantaneously coalesce. There is no reason to doubt that in the case of the fountain also, coalescence is due to differences of potential between colliding drops.

If the water be soapy, and especially if it contain a small proportion of milk, coalescence ensues without the help of electricity. In the case of the fountain the experiment may be made by leading tap-water through a Woulfe’s bottle in which a little milk has been placed. As the milk is cleared out, the scattering of the drops is gradually re-established.

In attempting to explain these curious phenomena, it is well to consider what occurs during a collision. As the liquid masses approach one another, the intervening air has to be squeezed out. In the earlier stages of approximation the obstacle thus arising may not be important; but when the thickness of the layer of air is reduced to the point at which the colours of thin plates are visible, the approximation must be sensibly resisted by the viscosity of the air which still remains to be got rid of. No change in the capillary conditions can arise until the interval is reduced to a small fraction of a wave-length of light; but such a reduction, unless extremely local, is strongly opposed by the remaining air. It is true that this opposition is temporary. The question is whether the air can everywhere be squeezed out during the short time over which the collision extends.

It would seem that the forces of electrical attraction act with peculiar advantage. If we suppose that upon the whole the air cannot be removed, so that the mean distance between the opposed surfaces remains constant, the electric attractions tend to produce an instability whereby the smaller intervals are diminished while the larger are increased. Extremely local contacts of the liquids, while opposed by capillary tension which tends to keep the surfaces flat, are thus favoured by the electrical forces, which moreover at the small distances in question act with exaggerated power.

A question arises as to the mode of action of milk or soap turbidity. The observation that it is possible for soap to be in excess may here have significance. It would seem that the surfaces, coming into collision within a fraction of a second of their birth, would still be subject to further contamination from the interior. A particle of soap rising accidentally to the surface would spread itself with rapidity. Now such an outward movement of the liquid is just what is required to hasten the removal of intervening air. It is obvious that the effect would fail if the contamination of the surface had proceeded too far previously to the collision.

This view is confirmed by experiments in which other gases are substituted for air as the environment of colliding jets. Oxygen and coal-gas were found to be without effect. On the other hand, the more soluble gases, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide, and steam, at once caused union.]

Stability of the Catenoid.—When the internal pressure is equal to the external, the film forms a surface of which the mean curvature at every point is zero. The only surface of revolution having this property is the catenoid formed by the revolution of a catenary about its directrix. This catenoid, however, is in stable equilibrium only when the portion considered is such that the tangents to the catenary at its extremities intersect before they reach the directrix.

To prove this, let us consider the catenary as the form of equilibrium of a chain suspended between two fixed points A and B. Suppose the chain hanging between A and B to be of very great length, then the tension at A or B will be very great. Let the chain be hauled in over a peg at A. At first the tension will diminish, but if the process be continued the tension will reach a minimum value and will afterwards increase to infinity as the chain between A and B approaches to the form of a straight line. Hence for every tension greater than the minimum tension there are two catenaries passing through A and B. Since the tension is measured by the height above the directrix these two catenaries have the same directrix. Every catenary lying between them has its directrix higher, and every catenary lying beyond them has its directrix lower than that of the two catenaries.

Now let us consider the surfaces of revolution formed by this system of catenaries revolving about the directrix of the two catenaries of equal tension. We know that the radius of curvature of a surface of revolution in the plane normal to the meridian plane is the portion of the normal intercepted by the axis of revolution.

The radius of curvature of a catenary is equal and opposite to the portion of the normal intercepted by the directrix of the catenary. Hence a catenoid whose directrix coincides with the axis of revolution has at every point its principal radii of curvature equal and opposite, so that the mean curvature of the surface is zero.