Bubble bursting and releasing aerosols at liquid-air interfaces can lead to the spreading of contaminants and microbes, which can negatively impact the environment and public health. A recent study shows that bubbles coated with a thin oil layer produce smaller drops, have a greater overall number of drops, and are ejected at a higher velocity compared to bubbles generated in clean water. Understanding the effect of contaminated bubbles on size distribution and ejection speeds is important in designing effective personal protective equipment and implementing additional guidelines on air and water quality in industrial settings. On a broader scale, aerosols generated by contaminated bubble bursting can affect weather, climate, and human health. They can transport pathogens, bacteria, and viruses and can penetrate deeper into the respiratory tract than larger aerosols. The study highlights the need to recognize the hazards of contaminated bubble bursting and implement necessary measures to mitigate their impact.
The Impact of Bursting Bubbles on Contamination Spread
Bubbles that burst and release aerosols at liquid-air interfaces can have negative impacts on the environment and public health by spreading contaminants and microbes. While aerosols from some sources are not a concern, those originating from industrial and natural sources can have a greater impact.
Aerosols are a suspension of liquid droplets or fine solid particles in the air. The bursting of bubbles at the interface between a liquid and the air is a significant source of aerosols. However, previous research has focused on “clean” bubbles, despite contaminated interfaces being more common.
New research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign reveals that bubbles coated by a thin oil layer produce drops that are smaller in size, have a higher overall number, and are ejected at a greater velocity compared to clean water bubbles. This study, titled “Enhanced singular jet formation in oil-coated bubble bursting,” was recently published in Nature Physics.
Bubble-bursting aerosols play a vital role in the transfer of mass across liquid interfaces. Sea spray aerosols, for instance, are primarily generated by bubble bursting at the ocean surface. The size of the drops produced from bubble bursting is an essential parameter, indicating their residence time and transport in the atmosphere. Small drops can travel further and are more easily lifted by winds.
According to Jie Feng, an assistant professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, contaminated water is ubiquitous, and bubbles rising from deeper water to the surface collect contaminants and form an organic layer. This layer contaminates the bubble, which then, when it reaches the surface and bursts, can aerosolize contaminants into small droplets.
The Hazards of Contaminated Bubble Bursting
Bursting bubbles that release aerosols at liquid-air interfaces can have significant consequences for the environment and public health. A recent study by Feng and Yang investigated the impact of a thin layer of oil on bursting bubbles as a model system for contaminated bubbles.
The study found that when the bursting bubble is coated with a thin layer of oil, the drops produced can be much smaller, sometimes just a few micrometers, than the typical size of around 100 micrometers produced by bare bubbles. Furthermore, ejection velocities of up to 10 meters per second were observed, compared to the 1 meter per second typically seen in bare bubble bursting. This means that the contaminated bubbles can aerosolize contaminants more effectively into smaller micron-sized droplets, posing a greater risk to public health in industrial settings such as wastewater treatment plants.
Understanding the effect of contaminated bubbles on size distribution and ejection speeds is crucial to designing effective personal protective equipment and implementing additional guidelines on air and water quality near such facilities.
On a broader scale, aerosols generated by contaminated bubble bursting can have an impact on weather, climate, and human health. They can transport pathogens, bacteria, and viruses and stay in the atmosphere for a longer time due to their small size and higher ejection speed. This has implications for global modeling efforts and poses a greater risk of pollutant spread and infection since smaller aerosols are more capable of penetrating deeper into the respiratory tract than larger aerosols.
This study, titled “Enhanced singular jet formation in oil-coated bubble bursting,” was recently published in Nature Physics.
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