Ildoo Kim

Marangoni elasticity of flowing soap films

We measure the Marangoni elasticity of a flowing soap film to be 22 dyne/cm irrespective of its width, thickness, flow speed, or the bulk soap concentration. We perform this measurement by generating an oblique shock in the soap film and measuring the shock angle, flow speed and thickness. We postulate that the elasticity is constant because the film surface is crowded with soap molecules. Our method allows non-destructive measurement of flowing soap film elasticity, and the value 22 dyne/cm is likely applicable to other similarly constructed flowing soap films.

Surface tension of flowing soap films

The surface tension of flowing soap films is measured with respect to the film thickness and the concentration of soap solution. We perform this measurement by measuring the curvature of the nylon wires that bound the soap film channel and use the measured curvature to parametrize the relation between the surface tension and the tension of the wire. We find the surface tension of our soap films increases when the film is relatively thin or made of soap solution of low concentration, otherwise it approaches an asymptotic value 30 mN/m. A simple adsorption model with only two parameters describes our observations reasonably well. With our measurements, we are also able to measure Gibbs elasticity for our soap film.