Growth and application of large spherical bubbles using reactive gases

Under certain conditions, bubbles composed of reactive gases may be placed in liquids. When the gases are ignited, the bubbles will rapidly grow, prod ucing large bubbles (up to almost 3 cm in diameter) that can be essentially spherical prior to and during the growth phase, even in normal gravity. Ex periments and analyses regarding this type of bubble growth are presented i n this paper. It is suggested that this method of bubble growth provides un ique opportunities to study phenomena associated with rapid growth of bubbl es in liquids, for example growth of bubbles in droplets burning in microgr avity and bubble growth during microgravity pool boiling. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.