Abstract
Measurements are reported of the growth of breath figures, the patterns that form when a vapor is condensed onto a cold surface. The pattern for water on glass was studied by direct observation and light scattering as a function of the contact angle , flux , degree of supersaturation , and time . When , a uniform layer forms whose thickness grows as at constant and . For droplets are formed; at constant and the radius of an isolated droplet grows as , but as a result of coalescences the average droplet radius grows as . The growth process is self-similar—coalescences simply rescale the distances and leave the basic droplet pattern unaltered.
- Received 14 July 1986
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.57.1433
©1986 American Physical Society