Surface tension measurements with a smartphone

Goy, Nicolas-Alexandre; Denis, Zakari; Lavaud, Maxime; Grolleau, Adrïan; Dufour, Nicolas; Deblais, Antoine; Delabre, Ulysse

doi:10.1119/1.5008349

Cited by 25 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Cameras are readily available in the current-day classroom, through either school-provided devices (iPads, tablets, etc.) or personal cell phones, and have been utilized previously to perform classroom science. − With these, pictures can be taken of droplets on surfaces, and the contact angles can be measured. When using tablets, the devices are typically large enough that their bottom edge can be rested on a table, stabilizing the camera.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing and 3D Printing an Improved Method of Measuring Contact Angle in the Middle School Classroom

Crowe

Hendrickson-Stives

Kuhn³

et al. 2021

J. Chem. Educ.

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The interaction between water and surfaces is observed in our daily lives and is used in laboratories to study materials properties, such as interfacial tension. Making the connection between fundamental scientific phenomena and everyday observations is a powerful method of highlighting the importance and relevance of science to the K−12 population. Typically, expensive equipment, such as dedicated contact angle goniometers, is used in laboratories to observe how water interacts with materials. Obtaining such laboratory-grade equipment for the K−12 classroom is not only difficult but also unnecessary. Thus, we present an affordable 3D printed setup for the reliable measurement of the contact angle of water on a variety of natural and synthetic surfaces, using smart devices (e.g., cell phone, tablet) as the imaging basis. This setup enables proper backlighting, a stable camera holder for quality images, and a flat surface with an easily adjustable platform to hold the sample. Compared to simply holding the smart device by hand, the 3D printed method provided better quality images and an improved data acquisition experience when measuring the contact angle. Use in a middle school setting has shown that this 3D printed method is successful for teaching about water/surface interactions on both hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces. This method can easily be adapted to suit learning objectives, allowing educators to explore a range of hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces of both biological and synthetic origin.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing and 3D Printing an Improved Method of Measuring Contact Angle in the Middle School Classroom

Crowe

Hendrickson-Stives

Kuhn³

et al. 2021

J. Chem. Educ.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Also in microgravity experiments the effects of surface tension are amplified [87], as highlighted by wringing out a wet cloth in the International Space Station [88]. An alternative simple method, accessible for students, is to use a smartphone camera to measure the shape of a hanging droplet [89].…”

Section: F Pendant Drop: Surface Tensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Culinary fluid mechanics and other currents in food science

Mathijssen¹,

Lisicki²,

Prakash³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Innovations in fluid mechanics have refined food since ancient history, while creativity in cooking inspires science in return. Here, we review how recent advances in hydrodynamics are changing food science, and we highlight how the surprising phenomena that arise in the kitchen lead to discoveries and technologies across the disciplines, including rheology, soft matter, biophysics and molecular gastronomy. This review is structured like a menu, where each course highlights different aspects of culinary fluid mechanics. Our main themes include multiphase flows, complex fluids, thermal convection, hydrodynamic instabilities, viscous flows, granular matter, porous media, percolation, chaotic advection, interfacial phenomena, and turbulence. For every topic, we first provide an introduction accessible to food professionals and scientists in neighbouring fields. We then assess the state-of-the-art knowledge, the open problems, and likely directions for future research. New gastronomic ideas grow rapidly as the scientific recipes keep improving too.

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“…Specifically, the system fails to compute the surface tension when the depth of the liquid in a standard paper cup is less than 25 mm [59]. Prior work using pendant drop methods are capable of computing surface tension [8,20]. To do this, a drop of liquid is suspended from a tube where the drop's shape is determined by the surface tension and the weight of the drop.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing a Drop of Liquid Using Smartphone LiDAR

Chan

Raghunath

Michaelsen

et al. 2022

Proc. ACM Interact. Mob. Wearable Ubiquitous Technol.

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We present the first system to determine fluid properties using the LiDAR sensors present on modern smartphones. Traditional methods of measuring properties like viscosity require expensive laboratory equipment or a relatively large amount of fluid. In contrast, our smartphone-based method is accessible, contactless and works with just a single drop of liquid. Our design works by targeting a coherent LiDAR beam from the phone onto the liquid. Using the phone's camera, we capture the characteristic laser speckle pattern that is formed by the interference of light reflecting from light-scattering particles. By correlating the fluctuations in speckle intensity over time, we can characterize the Brownian motion within the liquid which is correlated with its viscosity. The speckle pattern can be captured on a range of phone cameras and does not require external magnifiers. Our results show that we can distinguish between different fat contents as well as identify adulterated milk. Further, algorithms can classify between ten different liquids using the smartphone LiDAR speckle patterns. Finally, we conducted a clinical study with whole blood samples across 30 patients showing that our approach can distinguish between coagulated and uncoagulated blood using a single drop of blood.

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Surface tension measurements with a smartphone

Cited by 25 publications

References 12 publications

Designing and 3D Printing an Improved Method of Measuring Contact Angle in the Middle School Classroom

Designing and 3D Printing an Improved Method of Measuring Contact Angle in the Middle School Classroom

Culinary fluid mechanics and other currents in food science

Testing a Drop of Liquid Using Smartphone LiDAR

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