MICROSCOPY: 2D Soap Film Videos    (Go to Stills)

A soap film is suspended horizontally on a 1.5cm diameter ring.  The film thins by evaporation, which occurs faster in isolated areas.  Especially active are areas near the rim of the ring, where small thin 'bubbles' appear.  These appear black in the range of interference colors that indicate thickness.  Ribbed quasi-fixed structures appear along with plumes and jets. 

A soap film is suspended horizontally on a 1.5cm diameter ring.  The film thins by evaporation.  In areas near the rim small-scale vortices occur.  The dynamics at this small scale are remarkably complex with vortex entrainment and mergers that are visualized by interference colors and by tracking very small droplets and particles floating on black 'thinnest-film' areas.  10X - 50X

A soap film is suspended on a 1.3cm diameter ring that is oriented vertically.  The film thins slowly by evaporation, but remarkably complex flows are driven by gravitational sinking in the bulk interior of the film.  There is a fast upward return flow along the edges, where small-scale vortices occur.  The interior dynamics include falling plumes and meandering streaks that interact with the boundary flows.  Visualization is by interference colors and by tracking very small particles imbedded in the black 'thinnest' areas.  Reflected light  5X, 12.5X

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