Rapid Spreading of a Droplet on a Thin Soap Film. Author M Motaghian, R Shirsavar, M Erfanifam, M Sabouhi, E van der Linden, H Stone, D Bonn, Mehdi Habibi Publication Year 2019 Type Journal Article Abstract We study the spreading of a droplet of surfactant solution on a thin suspended soap film as a function of dynamic surface tension and volume of the droplet. Radial growth of the leading edge (R) shows power-law dependence on time with exponents ranging roughly from 0.1 to 1 for different surface tension differences (Δσ) between the film and the droplet. When the surface tension of the droplet is lower than the surface tension of the film (Δσ > 0), we observe rapid spreading of the droplet with ≈ , where α (0.4 < α < 1) is highly dependent on Δσ. Balance arguments assuming the spreading process is driven by Marangoni stresses versus inertial stresses yield α = 2/3. When the surface tension difference does not favor spreading (Δσ < 0), spreading still occurs but is slow with 0.1 < α < 0.2. This phenomenon could be used for stretching droplets in 2D and modifying thin suspended films. Journal Langmuir Volume 35 Issue 46 Pages 14855-14860 Date Published 2019 Nov 19 ISSN Number 1520-5827 DOI 10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b02274 Alternate Journal Langmuir PMCID PMC6868707 PMID 31644302 PubMedPubMed CentralGoogle ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML