The Interactions of Hot Spheres and Volatile Liquids

Abstract

A series of experiments involving explosions between molten metals (aluminium, bismuth, lead and tin) and water is described. These explosions result from a physical mechanism. An explosion is a rapid disintegration of the molten metal into its fragments accompanied by a noise and a pressure wave. High speed photography was used to study this fragmentation phenomenon. Photographs provides the time interval required for fragmentation. Results demonstrated that an entire explosive interaction requires only 2 milli seconds for completion. The drops of molten metal were obtained using a tube, made of graphite or inconel, with a nozzle at the end. The drops of moltent in obtained from these tubes show a standard deviation in weight of less than 5% and each weighed 0.26 grams. The availability of known, repeatable drop configuration offered several advantages and yielded quantitative data. It is shown that there exists a water temperature above which no explosion can occur. If water is at or above these temperatures, explosions can be prevented. It has been found that for tin temperatures just below that necessary for explosions to occur, the tin drops suddenly deviate from their vertical paths after falling a short distance below the water surface. By stroboscopic illumination photography tracks of these drops were observed and quantitative information on the dynamics of the interaction obtained. obtained.