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RandomFactor [soylentnews.org] writes:

Phys.org reports [phys.org] on a recent study draughted for the pages of the journal Chemical Communications "which solve[s] a long-standing mystery related to the lifetime of foams."

Lead researcher Dr. Richard Campbell from The University of Manchester says his findings...could be useful for the development of a range of products that improve the creamy topping on a flat white coffee, the head on a pint of beer, shampoos we use every day, firefighting foams or even oil absorbent foams used to tackle environmental disasters.

Campbell tapped the Institut Laue-Langevin in France for its high intensity neutron beams to illuminate liquid foams and study their ingrained properties:

The team studied mixtures containing surfactant—a compound that lowers surface tension—and a polymer—used in shampoos—to come up with a new way of understanding the samples that could help product developers formulate the ideal foam.

...

The scientists got to grips with the problem by studying the building blocks of the bubbles themselves, known as foam films.

Through reflecting neutrons off their liquid samples, they devised a new way to relate the stability of foam films to the way in which the additives arrange themselves at the surface of the liquid coating of bubbles to provide the stability needed to prevent them from bursting.

"Foams are used in many products—and product developers have long tried to improve them so they are better equipped for the task they are designed to tackle", added Dr. Campbell.

"But researchers have simply been on a different track, thinking of general surface properties and not about the structures created when different molecules assemble at the surface of bubbles.

"It was only through our use of neutrons at a world-leading facility that it was possible to make this advance because only this measurement technique could tell us how the different additives arrange themselves at the liquid surface to provide foam film stability.

The frothy researchers

think this work represents a clear first indication that our new approach could be applied to a range of systems to aid the development of products that can make an impact in materials science and on the environment.

It is hopped that scientists who had it wrong all these years won't be bitter.

Journal: Chemical Communications [rsc.org]
DOI: 10.1039/C9CC08470C [doi.org]

Original Submission