Mapping the influence of gravity on pendular liquid bridges between rigid spheres

The influence of gravity on the capillary forces and stabilities of pendular liquid bridges between spherical bodies is examined including the special case of a sphere and a flat surface. Previously, this has only been possible by measurement or calculation for a particular bridge system. In the current work, it is shown that a map involving the dimensionless bridge volume, V*, and the Bond number, Bo, may be used to represent the various regimes of behavior. There are four distinct regimes ranging from gravity free to complete draining in which it is not possible to form stable junctions. The boundaries are defined by contours of constant values of the group V*Bo which may be regarded as the Bond number with the appropriate length scale for this system.