Capillarity and Wetting Phenomena: Drops, Bubbles, Pearls, Waves [Hardcover]

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (Author), Francoise Brochard-Wyart (Author), David Quere (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0387005927 | ISBN-13: 978-0387005928 | Publication Date: September 12, 2003 | Edition: 1

The study of capillarity is in the midst of a veritable explosion. What is offered here is not a comprehensive review of the latest research but rather a compendium of principles designed for the undergraduate student and for readers interested in the physics underlying these phenomena.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews:

Choice

Review by P. R. Douville, emeritus, Central Connecticut State University

"You are an intelligent spider sitting on your web. Early morning light forms tiny rainbows as it passes through the beads of dew strung along the filaments composing your hard-earned handiwork. Why beads? What happened to the water in between each drop? To answer this question, our eight-legged intellectual must first gain an understanding of how liquids such as water actually wet surfaces and why such liquids fail to wet other surfaces. The problem encompasses such subjects as liquids rising up capillary tubes, paint spreading on solid surfaces or liquids spreading on other liquids, the fascinating subject of bubble formation and stability, and why water streams down some surfaces and forms droplets on other surfaces. De Gennes (Collège ((College) de France; Institute Curie), Brochard-Wyart (Institut Curie), and Quéré (Quere) (Collège ((College) de France) have written an excellent treatise on these phenomena that opens with a very poetic introduction relating esoteric concepts to everyday observations, and includes chapter references, historical sketches, and a very good discussion of each problem at chapter beginnings. For readers with backgrounds in mathematics, physics, and chemistry, although it is not beyond advanced undergraduates in the sciences and technological fields. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals; two-year technical program students."

"This book is designed as an elementary introduction to the conceptual framework used in research on wetting/dewetting processes and related capillary phenomena. … a simple and inspiring style of writing allows the authors to ‘convey the sense of curiosity and joy’ that unites researchers in this area … . The range of topics covered and a host of physical ideas and principles the authors describe as guidelines in the field are likely to make this book interesting to a wide audience … ." (Dr. Y. D. Shikhmurzaev, Contemporary Physics, Vol. 46 (1), 2005)

"Capillarity refers to the study of surface phenomena involving at least one liquid phase. … This book brings together (almost) everything which is known in a single volume. In view of the fact that the history of capillarity covers several centuries, this is a real ‘tour de force’. … It contains a wealth of practical information about a very large variety of surface phenomena. … This book should be of interest to a large variety of scientists (not only physicists)." (Marc Baus, Physicalia, Vol. 57 (3), 2005)

"Capillarity and Wetting Phenomena: Drops, Bubbles, Pearls, Waves is a translation of the earlier French Gouttes, Bulles, Perles et Ondes … . It has been wonderfully translated by Axel Reisinger. The English is fully fluent and idiomatic … . The book can be read with pleasure and profit by the uninitiated, but it is also a valuable - and even an indispensable reference work for the expert. … contains a whole bookshelf of information – all of it useful and much of it fascinating." (Benjamin Widom, Physics Today, December, 2004)

"De Gennes (Collège ((College) de France; Institute Curie), Brochard-Wyart (Institut Curie), and Quéré (Quere) (Collège (College) de France) have written an excellent treatise … with a very poetic introduction relating esoteric concepts to everyday observations, and includes chapter references, historical sketches, and a very good discussion of each problem at chapter beginnings. … Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals: two-year technical program students." (P. R. Douville, CHOICE, May, 2004)

"The whole book is in the same spirit, which is very enjoyable … . Thus it contains many illuminating examples and sketches … . it will also act as a reference for those working in the field. In conclusion, the intended readers of this book, whether they be soft matter students or scientists or simply the curious, should find therein not just a very good source of information but also an impressive collection of exciting and simple explanations of very complex phenomena." (Dr. Roberto Cerbino, Europhysics News, Vol. 37 (1), 2006)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 306 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (September 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387005927
• ISBN-13: 978-0387005928
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #800,981 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intuitive, elegant, insightful, beautiful!, May 7, 2005

By 

Vivek Sharma "Kavi" (Cambridge / Boston, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Capillarity and Wetting Phenomena: Drops, Bubbles, Pearls, Waves (Hardcover)

Capillarity and Wetting Phenomena, like every text and paper bearing the name of de Gennes is intuitive, insightful, elegant, beautiful and extremely useful text. The names de Gennes, Brochard and David Quere are well known to the researchers in this area, and this book basically brings together their deep insight about a host of different phenomena in very simple words and equations. The described physics of wetting, surface tension, droplet spreading, instabilities, bubbles, etc. is developed in a style where qualitative arguments, dimensional arguments and experimental observations are used to describe a variety of complex phenomena. The apparent lack of mathematical rigor is a blessing to everyone interested in developing a taste and temperament for this extremely important field. While one can find several related texts in the field, none other is written in this delightfully insightful way. This is one of the rare gems that everyone from a high school student to most advanced researcher in the field can read, enjoy, learn from and be delighted to possess.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Awfull Translation, May 8, 2008

By 

G. Villalobos - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Capillarity and Wetting Phenomena: Drops, Bubbles, Pearls, Waves (Hardcover)

I had the original in French, and got the English version trying to understand it faster. I was very dissapointed when I found phrases as:

"The puddle is the seat of a certain internal pressure p_2>0"

A puddle being a seat? I just don't catch the metaphore. The original in french says,

"Il existe une certaine pression interne p_2>0"

Which is, as you can googletranslate, "There is some internal pressure p_2> 0".

5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful and easy to read!, March 4, 2006

By 

Dave B. (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Capillarity and Wetting Phenomena: Drops, Bubbles, Pearls, Waves (Hardcover)

This is a great book for anyone interested in capillarity and wetting phenomena. What I like about it is that it gives the reader a grasp of how things work and it goes through a lot of practical examples. The equations are voluntarily simplified (constants often omitted) to only leave the important variables and reveal the "mechanics of how things work". However, although the equations look simple, they do capture the essence of the problem and they are always perfectly sound. This is an approach that de Gennes uses a lot and which I believe makes things easier to understand. Moreover, the 3 authors of the book are, like the previous reviewer said, very well known and respected scientist in their field, which adds to the scientific soundness of their approach. In summary, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the physics of wetting.