Armoured liquid marbles connected together in a chain 1.7 metres long

By Donna Lu

Droplets of liquid with a protecting coating could be joined into super-long chains of as much as 1.7 metres.

Liquid marbles include droplets which can be coated by a number of layers of strong particles. A lot of them are too gentle to be dealt with and are simply destroyed by mechanical stress – notably these which can be bigger than capillary length, an element regarding gravity and floor pressure. At 20°C, the capillary size of water is 2.7 millimetres.