Deformations of soap bubbles in a uniform electric field

The study of the deformations undergone by a soap bubble submitted to an electrical force
began with Taylor and Wilson 1 and the observation of the so-called Taylor’s cones. Beyond this
particular structure, few studies analyzed the bubble deformations. For example, what is the link
between the deformations and the electrical force ? Or, how do charges move in the thin soap
film formed by the bubble ? To answer those questions, we characterize the shape variations of
the surface of the bubble immersed in the uniform electric field of a plan capacitor. In particular,
our study focuses on hemispherical bubbles lying on the bottom electrode of a plane capacitor.
This study allows us to observe some interesting phenomena like the appearance of a hysteresis
cycle in the deformation amplitude.