Hughes &
Vora
Artist
Zoe Hughes
- Undergraduate artist
- Emory University
Scientist
Nandesh Vora
Undergraduate student
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- Emory University
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Artwork
by Zoe Hughes
Artist's narrative
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Over the process of droplet coalescence, information travels from the point of coalescence to the edges of the cell. Coalescence following Brownian dynamics is less structured, more random, and involves faster information exchange. As the two droplets approach one another, warmth in color symbolizes the beginning of the coalescence, with bright information packets gradually moving from the point of coalescence throughout the cell, conveying to the two droplets that they must come together as one. Chaos develops throughout this system as information rapidly travels within the two droplets and they merge into one unit, represented by the influx of colors, layering, and a dramatic encroaching black background illuminating the new singular droplet unit formed by this coalescence process.
Abstract
By Nandesh Vora
Droplet coalescence is essential in biological and industrial processes for complex systems. The time evolution of these coalescing clusters is given by well known physics by solving the Navier- Stokes equations. However, there is a regime with high dissipation to the environment giving new scaling laws. Particle based simulations show that Darcy’s Law governs the movement of Brownian clusters. This opens up exciting avenues for research. We use experiments with silicone oil in a Hele-Shaw cell to test whether imposing Darcy’s Law on the system gives us similar time evolution.