ICTS

Under certain conditions, an oil droplet released at the surface of a water layer may alternately spread and recoil. I will describe such a behavior recently observed with a dichlorométhane drop in the presence of a surfactant.

I will discuss the main hydrodynamical mechanisms that have been identified in this system, especially those which yield the formation of successive rims at the drop periphery and drive the fragmentation of these peculiar structures, and those which govern the development of surface instabilities which in later stages result in the emergence of a flower-like pattern around the drop.