Granular impact cratering by liquid drops: Understanding raindrop imprints through an analogy to asteroid strikes.

ABSTRACT: When a granular material is impacted by a sphere, its surface deforms like a liquid yet it preserves a circular crater like a solid. Although the mechanism of granular impact cratering by solid spheres is well explored, our knowledge on granular impact cratering by liquid drops is still very limited. Here, by combining high-speed photography with high-precision laser profilometry, we investigate liquid-drop impact dynamics on granular surface and monitor the morphology of resulting impact craters. Surprisingly, we find that despite the enormous energy and length difference, granular impact cratering by liquid drops follows the same energy scaling and reproduces the same crater morphology as that of asteroid impact craters. Inspired by this similarity, we integrate the physical insight from

SUBMITTER: Zhao R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4299234 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature