Five centuries ago, Leonardo da Vinci observed air bubbles deviating from a straight path in a zigzag or spiral motion.

The findings, published in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could provide insights into the behavior of particles that fall between solid and gas states.

Leonardo da Vinci observed five centuries ago that air bubbles, if big enough, periodically deviate in a zigzag or spiral from a straight-line movement.

Leonardo’s sketch showing the spiral motion of an ascending bubble (from his manuscript known as the Codex Leicester).

The authors of this new paper have developed a numerical discretization technique to characterize precisely the bubble’s air-water interface, which enables them to simulate its motion and explore its stability.

Reference: “Path instability of an air bubble rising in water” by Miguel A. Herrada and Jens G. Eggers, 17 January 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.