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Study: Leidenfrost effect occurs in all three water phases: Solid, liquid, and vapor - Ars Technica

Study: Leidenfrost effect occurs in all three water phases: Solid, liquid, and vapor - Ars Technica

Study: Leidenfrost effect occurs in all three water phases: Solid, liquid, and vapor - Ars Technica
Jan 22, 2022 1 min, 5 secs

But if the pan's temperature is well above water's boiling point, "gleaming drops resembling quicksilver" will form and will skitter across the surface.

If the surface is at least 400 degrees Fahrenheit (well above the boiling point of water), cushions of water vapor, or steam, form underneath them, keeping them levitated.

That's because of an imbalance in the fluid flow inside the Leidenfrost drops, acting like a small internal motor.

Large drops showed a balanced flow, but as the drops evaporated, becoming smaller (about half a millimeter in diameter) and more spherical, an imbalance of forces developed.

This caused the drops to roll like a wheel, helped along by a kind of "ratchet" effect from a downward tilt in the same direction the fluid in the droplet flowed.

Smaller drops will skitter off the surface and evaporate, while larger drops explode with that telltale crack. The culprit is particle contaminants, present in almost any liquid.

They end up with such a high concentration that the particles slowly form a kind of shell around the droplet?

As the droplet got hotter, minuscule bubbles of water vapor began to form between the droplet and the oil, then moved away.

Subsequent bubbles typically formed near the same spots, forming a single vapor trail that served to push the droplet in a preferred direction. .

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