1. Drop formation

1.1 Ligaments

The intermediate stage between the deforming liquid surface and the appearance of droplets is the formation of ligaments, filaments or digitations on the liquid surface. The characteristics of these ligaments depend on the "external" conditions of the flow and the properties of the liquid. The stretching of these ligaments leads to a radial thickness such that the volume of liquid contained remains constant, and can therefore be relatively small, until rupture occurs and surface tension forces remodel the liquid into drops. The final radius of these drops may be much greater than the average thickness of the ligaments, but of the order of magnitude of the cube root of the filament volume. One of the reasons why the drops resulting from ligament rupture are so large lies...