When two drops of water merge, there is time between touching and merging. Why is this?
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It has been a while, but if I remember my physics correctly:
I believe it’s due to the potential energy and surface tension of the water droplet. Each droplet is already in a low energy state, with surface tension keeping everything roughly spherical.
The droplets have to transition to a higher energy state before they can break surface tension and merge. But when they finally do, the resulting large droplet has to find a new low energy state to be in.
Rewinding a bit: So, when the droplets touch, they start sharing molecules, but don’t have enough energy to overcome the surface tension forcing them each into a ball. That surface tension prevents them from merging. As more molecules flow between and connect the two touching droplets, the more the existing surface tension and shape are disrupted, until finally the lowest possible energy state results in the two drops breaking their individual surface tension and combining into a larger droplet.
This may be a bad and confusing example, but think of a balloon between your palms. You press your palms together and the balloon will distort to accommodate the particles, but it’s still balloon shaped, if slightly squished.
But the harder you press your hands together, the more energy you’re putting into the balloon. When the energy you’re putting into balloon reaches a high enough point, you overcome the energy holding the balloon together.
The rubber of the balloon can no longer maintain its integrity, and the entire thing pops, releasing all that built up energy and allowing a new low energy state for all the particles involved to rest at.
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