On the stability of gas bubbles in liquid-gas solutions

Abstract

It was shown some time ago by use of diffusion theory that a gas bubble in a liquid-gas solution was unstable. This problem has been reconsidered recently in two papers both of which propose to develop a stability analysis solely from thermodynamic considerations. The first of these studies purports to find stability for a gas bubble in a liquid-gas solution. Some possible sources of error in this analysis are mentioned here. The second study considers a particular system of a bubble in a liquid drop immersed in a second liquid in which the gas is insoluble. A condition of stability is then found. This system is reconsidered here simply in terms of the ideas of diffusion theory. The stability conditions may then be stated in simple physical terms.