Applying a magnetic field to a freely-suspended soap film containing magnetic nanoparticles influences how the liquid flows in the film and therefore how quickly it thins. This has important implications on how long the film survives before it bursts, which is a critical consideration for any application involving films and foams. Our findings suggest that a magnetic field may be able to precisely control when a magnetic soap film bursts. This could lead to the development of new technologies, such as using a magnetic soap film to encapsulate a useful substance like a gaseous drug and to control when the substance is released by using a magnetic field to induce rupture.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Any reuse must credit the author(s) and provide a link back to this page.