Flotation of a denser liquid drop on lighter liquid has been explained earlier via the Neumann triangle. We demonstrate the flotation of a denser liquid (water) drop on a lighter liquid in a pair that does not satisfy the Neumann triangle. We attribute this newly studied phenomenon to the role of line tension τ which prevents the water droplet from complete engulfment. A simple model is used to explain the underlying physics and to obtain critical line tension value for stable flotation. We establish line tension values for different liquids with water and show possible heterogeneous nucleation that contributes toward the variance of line tension values.
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