Mechanically-Excited Sessile Drops

The volume and contact-line mobility of a sessile drop determine the frequency response of the drop to mechanical excitation. A useful signature of the drop is its response to a sweep of frequency. At particular frequencies the drop exhibits standing wave patterns of different mode numbers and/or azimuthal, spinning motion. We report observations of the spectrum of standing wave patterns and compare to predictions of a linear stability theory. On the side of application, the results suggest how to tune the pinning-unpinning of a sessile drop in order to maximize its translation.