molecules Review The Life of a Surface Bubble Jonas Miguet 1,†, Florence Rouyer 2,† and Emmanuelle Rio 3,*,† 1 TIPS C.P.165/67, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Av. F. Roosevelt 50, 1050 Brussels, Belgium;
[email protected] 2 Laboratoire Navier, Université Gustave Eiffel, Ecole des Ponts, CNRS, 77454 Marne-la-Vallée, France; fl
[email protected] 3 Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay, France * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +33-1691-569-60 † These authors contributed equally to this work. Abstract: Surface bubbles are present in many industrial processes and in nature, as well as in carbon- ated beverages. They have motivated many theoretical, numerical and experimental works. This paper presents the current knowledge on the physics of surface bubbles lifetime and shows the diversity of mechanisms at play that depend on the properties of the bath, the interfaces and the ambient air. In particular, we explore the role of drainage and evaporation on film thinning. We highlight the existence of two different scenarios depending on whether the cap film ruptures at large or small thickness compared to the thickness at which van der Waals interaction come in to play. Keywords: bubble; film; drainage; evaporation; lifetime 1. Introduction Bubbles have attracted much attention in the past for several reasons. First, their ephemeral Citation: Miguet, J.; Rouyer, F.; nature commonly awakes children’s interest and amusement. Their visual appeal has raised Rio, E. The Life of a Surface Bubble. interest in painting [1], in graphism [2] or in living art.