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Order-of-magnitude increase in flow velocity driven by mass conservation during the evaporation of sessile drops

These are the first reported results revealing the acceleration of flow within an evaporating sessile (i.e. sitting) drop driven by evaporative mass transfer. The acceleration was measured using a state-of-the-art, high speed, micro-PIV system, and it was established that evaporation occurs preferentially near the contact line. This was an outcome of an international collaboration (y-hama@mech.kyushu-u.ac.jp) and contributed to securing funding for an EU network involving 47 universities in 30 countries, including the University of Edinburgh (EU: COST Action MP1106, www.cost.eu/domains_actions/mpms/Actions/MP1106) on practical applications of bubbles and drops.