Droplet fission: A performance of surface tension

Abstract

Long liquid jets are unstable against surface vibrations whose wavelength exceeds the circumference (Rayleigh). We show that this instability also governs droplet formation in finite liquid files even if they are homogeneously charged. Whenever the drop gets too long it fissions so that the fragments meet the proper bound for length/circumference depending on fissility. The arbitrary rupture position of infinite jets is limited for finite drops but one still finds that it can widely fluctuate.