Thomas Bing with Dr. Philip Taylor

The Changing Shape of a Liquid Drop in an Electric Field

Ordinarily, a liquid droplet is essentially spherical.  When a dielectric liquid drop is placed in an electric field, however, a spheroid results.  Provided the liquid’s dielectric constant is above a certain threshold value, a further increase in field strength will result in the drop forming conical tips, becoming lemon-shaped.

     In this project, we will model the shape such a droplet assumes by formulating equations that govern the droplet’s shape and then numerically solving them.