The Inverse Leidenfrost Effect

Droplets levitate on a bath of liquid nitrogen and are spontaneously self-propelled. Thanks Audible! Start a 30-day trial and your first audiobook is free. Go to https://audible.com/VERITASIUM or text VERITASIUM to 500500.

Special thanks to Dr. Anaïs Gauthier
Physics of Fluids: https://pof.tnw.utwente.nl/

Self-propulsion of inverse Leidenfrost drops on a cryogenic bath
Anaïs Gauthier, Christian Diddens, Rémi Proville, Detlef Lohse, and Devaraj van der Meer
PNAS January 22, 2019 116 (4) 1174-1179; published ahead of print January 22, 2019
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/4/1174

For a detailed description of the setup:
http://www.lps.ens.fr/~adda/papiers/L...

And self-propulsion is also seen: http://www.lps.ens.fr/~adda/papiers/I...

Other recent (hot) Leidenfrost experiments that might be interesting:
Leidenfrost wheels:    • Leidenfrost Wheels  
Leidenfrost maze:    • Видео  
Leidenfrost explosions:    • Leidenfrost explosions  

Special thanks to Patreon supporters:
Donal Botkin, James M Nicholson, Michael Krugman, Nathan Hansen, Ron Neal, Stan Presolski, Terrance Shepherd

Thanks to Prof. Kevin McKeegan at UCLA for the liquid nitrogen

Filming by Raquel Nuno

Additional animations by Alan Chamberlain