Professors Miguel Ángel Herrada of the University of Seville and Jens G. Eggers of the University of Bristol have uncovered a mechanism that explains the erratic movement of bubbles rising in water. The findings, published in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could provide insights into the behavior of particles that fall between solid and gas states.
Leonardo da Vinci observed five centuries ago that air bubbles, if big enough, periodically deviate in a zigzag or spiral from a straight-line movement. However, no quantitative description of the phenomenon or physical mechanism to explain this periodic motion had ever been found.
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