Successive instabilities of confined Leidenfrost puddles (original) (raw)

PACS 68.03.Cd-Surface tension and related phenomena PACS 68.03.Fg-Evaporation and condensation of liquids PACS 47.55.D-Drops and bubbles Abstract-A Leidenfrost drop confined between two hot plates is unstable, if large enough. After a short delay to build a central vapor pocket, it forms a ring which rapidly expands and eventually bursts. We analyze this sequence of instabilities theoretically, and show that the ring size increases in a non-linear manner as a function of time, in agreement with experiments.