What is the difference between a drop and a droplet? Is a droplet simply a little drop?
The obvious shape of a drop(let) is a sphere. Think of a sphere with radius r, then scale up to one with radius nr. The surface area will be multiplied by n2 and the volume by n3 (Mathskit, PHYSICS REVIEW Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 21–23). Liquid drop(let)s are held together by surface tension forces, which are proportional to surface area (r2). If a drop is ‘too large’, its weight (proportional to volume, r3) distorts the spherical shape, and the drop may break into smaller droplets. However, there is more to it than that.
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