Avalanches of Popping Bubbles in Collapsing Foams

Abstract

We report acoustic measurements of popping bubbles during the collapsing of aqueous foams. The sound pattern is analyzed using classical methods of statistical physics. It is found that membrane rupture concerns a wide variety of situations: small and large membranes at the air/foam interface. Avalanches of popping bubbles are put into evidence. Time durations in between successive pops seem to be distributed on a universal power law.