Take off of small leidenfrost droplets

Abstract

We put in evidence the unexpected behavior of Leidenfrost droplets at the later stage of their evaporation. We predict and observe that, below a critical size R l, the droplets spontaneously take off due to the breakdown of the lubrication regime. We establish the theoretical relation between the droplet radius and its elevation. We predict that the vapor layer thickness increases when the droplets become smaller. A satisfactory agreement is found between the model and the experimental results performed on droplets of water and of ethanol. © 2012 American Physical Society.