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Fringe around a beet slice: Wetting-induced dimple in a thin liquid film
Phys. Rev. Fluids 10, 064004 – Published 26 June, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.10.064004
Abstract
When a slice of beet is placed on a plate with a thin layer of beet juice, one can observe a clear fringe around the beet, where the color is more translucent than the rest of the juice. The hypotheses in literature were inconsistent and limited, which motivated us to revisit this phenomenon. Using a motorized confocal displacement sensor, we measured the temporal evolution of the liquid surface profile across the fringe. Our findings suggest that a suction flow, induced by the capillary rise of the contact line, causes a dimple—a small concave depression—to form on the liquid surface. While surface tension and gravity tends to smooth out the dimple, viscous drag acts against them if the liquid film is sufficiently thin. Our scaling analysis correctly estimates the dependence of dimple lifetime on liquid properties and film thickness. We also capture the dimple formation dynamics by numerically solving the lubrication equation with the Young-Laplace equation. This work provides an interpretation for a common phenomenon.
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References (26)
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