Spreading of soap bubbles on dry and wet surfaces

Abstract

The spreading of soap bubbles after forming contact with a substrate is experimentally studied. We find for dry glass substrate that the rim of the spreading soap bubble follows the well known scaling law for inertia dominated spreading r [rund] t1/2 [Eggers, J., Lister, J., and Stone, H., J. Fluid Mech. 401, 293–310 (1999)]. Varying the viscosity of the soap solutions and the coating of the glass does not affect this spreading behavior qualitatively. Yet, on a wetted surface, the rim obtains a constant radial velocity. Here, the rim splits into two and this new rim trails the main rim. Interestingly, the central film enclosed by the two rims develops radially oriented wrinkles.