Water droplets can jump during vapor condensation on solid benzene near its melting point. This phenomenon, which can be viewed as a kind of micro scale steam engine, is studied experimentally and numerically. The latent heat of condensation transferred at the drop three phase contact line melts the substrate during a time proportional to R ͑the drop radius͒. The wetting conditions change and a spontaneous jump of the drop results in random direction over length ϳ1.5R, a phenomenon that increases the coalescence events and accelerates the growth. Once properly rescaled by the jump length scale, the growth dynamics is, however, similar to that on a solid surface.

Active control over the assembly of colloidal and nanoparticles has important applications for the design of new nanostructured materials, but it is a difficult task. Here, a new method is presented to control the morphology of colloidal aggregates using critical Casimir forces. Via direct temperature control of critical Casimir forces, the particles are assembled into aggregates with well-defined architecture.

Random sequential adsorption (RSA), on a two-dimensional continuum substrate, of different types of zero area objects that disallow domain formation and hence lead to jamming, is examined by simulation. In all the cases, in the asymptotic time regime, the approach of the number density rho(t) at instant t to jamming density rho(infinity) is found to exhibit power law rho(infinity)-rho(t) approximately t{-p} as that for RSA of finite area objects. These results suggest the possibility of the power law being universal for all jamming systems in RSA on a continuum substrate. A generalized analytical treatment is also proposed.

No abstract