Rahil Valani (Monash University) explains how superwalking droplets form when a bath of oil is vibrated at two different frequencies, and how this phenomena is related to quantum theory and wave-particle duality.
Research by Rahil Valani at Monash University.
Interview with University of Oxford Mathematician Dr Tom Crawford.

Featuring ‘Superwalking Droplets’ DOI: doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2019.GFM.V0024
On vertically vibrating a bath of silicone oil, droplets of the same oil can be made to walk on the liquid surface. This walking droplet, also called a walker, creates a local wave each time it bounces on the fluid trampoline. The waves in turn push around the walker, giving rise to a moving wave-particle entity. By vibrating the bath at two driving frequencies, f and f/2, we have observed a new class of walking droplets which we coin superwalkers. Superwalkers may be more than double the size of the largest walkers and may travel at more than triple the speed of the fastest ones. Being bigger and faster, enable these superwalkers to overcome their wave barriers and get very close to other superwalkers, resulting in a new kind of interaction. This interaction gives rise to plethora of novel multidroplet behaviors. Gallery of Fluid Motion entry: youtube.com/watch?v=75Z8R921I-4

Publication: Valani, R., Dring, J., Simula, T., & Slim, A. (2021). Emergence of superwalking droplets. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 906, A3. doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2020.742

This video is part of a collaboration with the Journal of Fluid Mechanics and the UK Fluids Network featuring a series of interviews with researchers from the APS DFD 2019 conference. Sponsored by the Journal of Fluid Mechanics and the UK Fluids Network.

Produced by Tom Crawford. Tom is an Early-Career Teaching and Outreach Fellow in Mathematics at St Edmund Hall

With thanks to Rahil Valani Yves Couder APS Physics Unripe Content