Abstract
A traditional hand-held firework generates light streaks similar to branched pine needles, with ever smaller ramifications. These streaks are the trajectories of incandescent reactive liquid droplets bursting from a melted powder. We have uncovered the detailed sequence of events, which involve a chemical reaction with the oxygen of air, thermal decomposition of metastable compounds in the melt, gas bubble nucleation and bursting, liquid ligaments and droplets formation, all occurring in a sequential fashion. We have also evidenced a rare instance in nature of a spontaneous fragmentation process involving a direct cascade from big to smaller droplets. Here, the self-sustained direct cascade is shown to proceed over up to eight generations, with well-defined time and length scales, thus answering a century old question, and enriching, with a new example, the phenomenology of comminution.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 074502 |
| Journal | Physical Review Letters |
| Volume | 118 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 14 2017 |
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All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
Cite this
Direct Self-Sustained Fragmentation Cascade of Reactive Droplets. / Inoue, Chihiro; Izato, Yu Ichiro; Miyake, Atsumi; Villermaux, Emmanuel.
In: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 118, No. 7, 074502, 14.02.2017.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Direct Self-Sustained Fragmentation Cascade of Reactive Droplets
AU - Inoue, Chihiro
AU - Izato, Yu Ichiro
AU - Miyake, Atsumi
AU - Villermaux, Emmanuel
PY - 2017/2/14
Y1 - 2017/2/14
N2 - A traditional hand-held firework generates light streaks similar to branched pine needles, with ever smaller ramifications. These streaks are the trajectories of incandescent reactive liquid droplets bursting from a melted powder. We have uncovered the detailed sequence of events, which involve a chemical reaction with the oxygen of air, thermal decomposition of metastable compounds in the melt, gas bubble nucleation and bursting, liquid ligaments and droplets formation, all occurring in a sequential fashion. We have also evidenced a rare instance in nature of a spontaneous fragmentation process involving a direct cascade from big to smaller droplets. Here, the self-sustained direct cascade is shown to proceed over up to eight generations, with well-defined time and length scales, thus answering a century old question, and enriching, with a new example, the phenomenology of comminution.
AB - A traditional hand-held firework generates light streaks similar to branched pine needles, with ever smaller ramifications. These streaks are the trajectories of incandescent reactive liquid droplets bursting from a melted powder. We have uncovered the detailed sequence of events, which involve a chemical reaction with the oxygen of air, thermal decomposition of metastable compounds in the melt, gas bubble nucleation and bursting, liquid ligaments and droplets formation, all occurring in a sequential fashion. We have also evidenced a rare instance in nature of a spontaneous fragmentation process involving a direct cascade from big to smaller droplets. Here, the self-sustained direct cascade is shown to proceed over up to eight generations, with well-defined time and length scales, thus answering a century old question, and enriching, with a new example, the phenomenology of comminution.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85013432460&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.074502
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.074502
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85013432460
VL - 118
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
SN - 0031-9007
IS - 7
M1 - 074502
ER -