event
Wednesday 18 Oct 2023: Surfactant dynamics in confined domains
Oliver Jensen - University of Manchester
Newman Purple 13:30-14:30
Surfactants are chemicals that are ubiquitous in the modern environment. They adsorb onto gas-liquid interfaces and reduce surface tension. This can be a benefit in many industrial, domestic or biomedical situations but also a nuisance, when surfactants contaminate interfaces that should otherwise be clean. I will describe a set of problems illustrating the dynamics of flows generated or influenced by surfactants, starting with their surprising capacity to solve a maze, diverting via consideration of optimal transport to lung airways (where surfactants are beneficial) and superhydrophobic surfaces (where they are not).
