Lifetime of a two-dimensional air bubble.

Air bubbles created in many viscous liquids rise up to the liquid-air interface and stay there for a while before exploding and disappearing. The lifetimes of such bubbles are governed by the thinning dynamics of the hemispherical liquid film separating the bubble from bulk air. Here, the lifetime of bubbles confined by two separated wetting plates is experimentally studied as the distance apart, viscosity, and bubble size are changed. Although the film is not hemispherical but takes a nontrivial shape, a relatively simple hydrodynamic model accounts for the observations.