Open AccessEnhanced attraction between drops carrying fluctuating charge distributions
Author(s) -
Maarten H. P. Ambaum,
Torsten Auerswald,
Richmond Eaves,
Giles Harrison
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
proceedings - royal society. mathematical, physical and engineering sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1471-2946
pISSN - 1364-5021
DOI - 10.1098/rspa.2021.0714
Subject(s) - spheres , charge (physics) , attraction , electric charge , electrostatic induction , charge density , electrostatics , chemical physics , electrical conductor , mechanics , physics , materials science , electrode , quantum mechanics , philosophy , linguistics , astronomy
The electrostatic force between conductive spheres is always attractive at small separations, irrespective of their mean charge, when the charge on the spheres is constant. In many situations, the charge may not be fixed, such as for water drops in the natural atmosphere which vary in size and charge. We show that the attractive force between charged conductive spheres increases with increasing charge variance. The importance of this unrecognized electrostatic effect between water drops is evaluated for its potential to enhance rain formation.