Measuring and overcoming limits of the Saffman-Delbrück model for soap film viscosities

PLoS One. 2015 Mar 30;10(3):e0121981. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121981. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

We observe tracer particles diffusing in soap films to measure the two-dimensional (2D) viscous properties of the films. Saffman-Delbrück type models relate the single-particle diffusivity to parameters of the film (such as thickness h) for thin films, but the relation breaks down for thicker films. Notably, the diffusivity is faster than expected for thicker films, with the crossover at h/d = 5.2 ± 0.9 using the tracer particle diameter d. This indicates a crossover from purely 2D diffusion to diffusion that is more three-dimensional. We demonstrate that measuring the correlations of particle pairs as a function of their separation overcomes the limitations of the Saffman-Delbrück model and allows one to measure the viscosity of a soap film for any thickness.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Diffusion
  • Glycerol / chemistry
  • Hydrodynamics
  • Models, Chemical
  • Motion
  • Particle Size
  • Soaps / chemistry*
  • Surface-Active Agents / chemistry
  • Viscosity
  • Water / chemistry

Substances

  • Soaps
  • Surface-Active Agents
  • Water
  • Glycerol

Grants and funding

Funding provided by National Science Foundation under Grant No. CBET-1336401. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.