Researchers have obtained images of tiny oil droplets (pictured) forming in flight at high speeds. Such data on droplet formation could improve inkjet printing techniques.Studying how droplets behave in inkjet printing is difficult because they move so rapidly. Detlef Lohse at the University of Twente in the Netherlands and his colleagues used 8-nanosecond-long flashes of a laser to light up picolitre-sized silicone oil droplets, and recorded these with a microscope and high-speed camera. By comparing two images of the same droplets taken 600 nanoseconds apart, the authors calculated the internal flow rate of the droplets as they formed, and found good agreement with mathematical simulations.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v507/n7491/full/507142a.html
