Water Dome Shaped Like an Umbrella
Let's take a look!
What type of experiment is this?

Experimental procedure and explanation:
- I cut the lid from a candy package purchased at a convenience store into a piece about 2 cm in diameter and attached it to a plastic bottle cap, creating a concave surface. When water is poured onto it, the water dome opens up like an umbrella.
- Next, by reducing the flow rate, a small dome forms.
- When you touch this dome with a chopstick, the umbrella expands. Disrupting the water film with the chopstick weakens the effect of surface tension, causing the dome to expand.
- The same expansion occurs when spraying with dishwashing detergent.
- This video was produced with the support of the JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (18K03956).
| [Attention] | Water is used throughout these experiments, but it’s important to remember that water is a valuable resource. To minimize waste, consider reusing the water after each experiment—for bathing, cleaning, watering plants, and other practical purposes. |
| [Keywords] | Surface tension, inertia |
| [Related items] | What Causes the Water Dome to Grow?, Dishwashing Detergent Makes the Dome Larger |
| [References] | Ryozo Ishiwata and Mitsumasa Nemoto, “The Wonder of Flow,” Kodansha Bluebacks, pp. 62–67. Ryozo Ishiwata, “Illustrated Fluid Dynamics Trivia,” Natsume Publishing, pp. 48–49. |
Last Update:2022.8.1
