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A new setup for giant soap films characterization

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Abstract

Artists, using empirical knowledge, manage to generate and play with giant soap films and bubbles. Until now, scientific studies of soap films generated at a controlled velocity and without any feeding from the top, studied films of a few square centimeters. The present work aims to present a new setup to generate and characterize giant soap films (2 m \(\times \) 0.7 m). Our setup is enclosed in a humidity-controlled box of 2.2 m high, 1 m long, and 0.75 m large. Soap films are entrained by a fishing line withdrawn out of a bubbling solution at various velocities. We measure the maximum height of the generated soap films, as well as their lifetime, thanks to automatic detection. This is allowed by light-sensitive resistors collecting the light reflected on the soap films and ensures robust statistical measurements. In the meantime, thickness measurements are performed with a UV–VIS-spectrometer, allowing us to map the soap film’s thickness over time.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge funding from ESA (MAP Soft Matter Dynamics and contract 4000115113) and CNES (through the GDR MFA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Laboratoire de physique des solides, 91405, Orsay, France

    Sandrine Mariot, Marina Pasquet, Vincent Klein, Frédéric Restagno & Emmanuelle Rio

Authors
  1. Sandrine Mariot
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  2. Marina Pasquet
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  3. Vincent Klein
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  4. Frédéric Restagno
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  5. Emmanuelle Rio
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Correspondence to Sandrine Mariot.

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Mariot, S., Pasquet, M., Klein, V. et al. A new setup for giant soap films characterization. Eur. Phys. J. E 44, 52 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/s10189-021-00054-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/s10189-021-00054-5

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