Steady magnetic field drives soap bubbles

What is it about?

The possibility of driving millimetrically scaled soap and glycerol bubbles floating on a liquid, using a steady magnetic field of ca. 0.5 T is demonstrated. The displacement of bubbles is due to the deformation of the liquid/vapor interface by the magnetic field, known as the Moses effect. This deformation gives rise to the change in apparent contact angles driving the bubble. Switching of repulsion to the attraction is explained in terms of a model of an interaction between two capillary charges. The experiments with bubbles demonstrate that the role of gravity in the displacement of floating diamagnetic objects driven by steady magnetic fields may be negligible. The mathematical model of the process is suggested.

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