Igor Ivanov

Here is an update on my home experiments on the millisecond dynamics of dripping water—in fact, milk. This time, I shot the process with a new macro lens for my Sony camera and placed the strobe flash to the side. This is a single image obtained with the flash was firing at 100 Hz and producing 10 short flashes every 10 ms. The camera was installed on a tripod and, at the moment of taking picture, I manually rotated it in the horizontal plane—so that the successive images are offset horizontally.

The image perfectly reveals the formation and dynamics of the beautiful satellite droplet. Note that, once formed, the satellite droplet first goes up by about half a millimeter before eventually falling down. This is due to the non-symmetric bridge collapse: at first, it pinches off in its lower end, setting the main droplet in freefall, and then the bridge itself is detached form the support byt the second pinch-off.