Self-assembling clusters of particles on a shrinking liquid surface

Abstract: After rainfall, pine needles are observed to float on the surface of small puddles. As the water evaporates, these pine needles exhibit spontaneous self-assembly into distinct clusters. Motivated by this natural phenomenon, we conducted experimental investigations into the dynamic evolution of particles during the shrinkage of a liquid surface. Our experiments revealed that particles tend to aggregate, forming distinct clusters as the liquid boundary shrinks. We systematically examined the emergence of these clusters and explored how their sizes and numbers evolve with changes in packing fraction. Furthermore, we analyze particle rotation during the process and discuss the formation of the final configuration comprising clusters of various orientations. Complementary numerical simulations demonstrate qualitative agreement with our experimental findings. Our study contributes to a better understanding of self-assembly phenomena involving macroscopic particles on shrinking liquid surfaces.