Shaking antibubbles – droplets of liquid encased in a thin layer of air – prevents them from popping for several hours. These could be used in chemical engineering in the future
Physics
24 June 2022
Antibubbles suspended in a liquid Stéphane Dorbolo
The opposite of a bubble is an antibubble, a blob of liquid encased in a thin layer of air. Antibubbles usually pop a few minutes after they are made, but scientists have figured out how to make them last for 13 hours. Long-lasting antibubbles could be used for transporting chemicals or drugs in liquids.
Antibubbles were first observed in 1932, but they haven’t been widely used in practical devices or engineering processes because they are usually short-lived. Now, Stéphane Dorbolo at the University …