Eur. Phys. J. E (2011) 34: 82
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2011-11082-y

Regular Article

The transition from three-dimensional to two-dimensional foam structures

Institute of Mathematics and Physics, Aberystwyth University, SY23 3BZ, Aberystwyth, UK

^* e-mail: foams@aber.ac.uk

Received: 23 November 2010
Revised: 5 August 2011
Accepted: 9 August 2011
Published online: 25 August 2011

Abstract

A two-dimensional foam consists of a monolayer of bubbles. It can be created by squeezing the more familiar three-dimensional foam between two parallel glass plates. We describe and explain the minimum plate separation H which must be reached to fully effect the transition from three- to two- dimensional foam. We find that H/V ^1/3 is close to one, where V is the average bubble volume, and increases slightly when the side-walls of the container are taken into account.