The PlateauRayleigh instability, often just called the Rayleigh instability, explains why and how a falling stream

of fluid breaks up into smaller packets with the

same volume but less surface area. It is related to the RayleighTaylor instability and is part of a greater branch of fluid dynamics concerned with fluid thread
breakup. This fluid instability is exploited in the design of a particular type of ink jet technologywhereby a jet of liquid is perturbed into a steady stream of droplets.

The driving force of the PlateauRayleigh instability is that liquids, by virtue of their surface tensions, tend to minimize their surface area. A considerable amount of
work has been done recently on the final pinching profile by attacking it with self-similar solutions.[1][2]

Contents
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1History
2Theory
3Examples
o 3.1Water dripping from a faucet/tap
o 3.2Urination
4Notes
5External links

History[edit]
The PlateauRayleigh instability is named for Joseph Plateau and Lord Rayleigh. In 1873, Plateau found experimentally that a vertically falling stream of water will
break up into drops if its wavelength is greater than about 3.13 to 3.18 times its diameter. [3] Later, Rayleigh showed theoretically that a vertically falling column of
non-viscous liquid with a circular cross-section should break up into drops if its wavelength exceeded its circumference. [4]

Theory[edit]

Intermediate stage of a jet breaking into drops. Radii of curvature in the axial direction are shown. Equation for the radius of the stream is , where is the radius

of the unperturbed stream, is the amplitude of the perturbation, is distance along the axis of the stream, and is the wave number

[5][6]
The explanation of this instability begins with the existence of tiny perturbations in the stream. These are always present, no matter how smooth the stream is. If
the perturbations are resolved into sinusoidal components, we find that some components grow with time, while others decay with time. Among those that grow
with time, some grow at faster rates than others. Whether a component decays or grows, and how fast it grows is entirely a function of its wave number (a
measure of how many peaks and troughs per unit length) and the radius of the original cylindrical stream. The diagram to the right shows an exaggeration of a
single component.

By assuming that all possible components exist initially in roughly equal (but minuscule) amplitudes, the size of the final drops can be predicted by determining by
wave number which component grows the fastest. As time progresses, it is the component with the maximal growth rate will come to dominate and will eventually
be the one that pinches the stream into drops. [7]

Although a thorough understanding of how this happens requires a mathematical development (see references [5][7]), the diagram can provide a conceptual
understanding. Observe the two bands shown girdling the streamone at a peak and the other at a trough of the wave. At the trough, the radius of the stream is
smaller, hence according to the YoungLaplace equation the pressure due to surface tension is increased. Likewise at the peak the radius of the stream is greater
and, by the same reasoning, pressure due to surface tension is reduced. If this were the only effect, we would expect that the higher press ure in the trough would
squeeze liquid into the lower-pressure region in the peak. In this way we see how the wave grows in amplitude over time.

But the Young-Laplace equation is influenced by two separate radius components. In this case one is the radius, already discussed, of the stream itself. The other
is the radius of curvature of the wave itself. The fitted arcs in the diagram show these at a peak and at a trough. Observe t hat the radius of curvature at the trough
is, in fact, negative, meaning that, according to YoungLaplace, it actually decreasesthe pressure in the trough. Likewise the radius of curvature at the peak is
positive and increases the pressure in that region. The effect of these components is opposite the effects of the radius of t he stream itself.

The two effects, in general, do not exactly cancel. One of them will have greater magnitude than the other, depending upon wave number and the initial radius of
the stream. When the wave number is such that the radius of curvature of the wave dominates that of the radius of the stream, such components will decay over
time. When the effect of the radius of the stream dominates that of the curvature of the wave, such components grow exponenti ally with time.