V] THE SHAPE OF A SPLASH 389 



are closely related to those which attend and which bring about the 

 breaking-up of a liquid cylinder or thread. 



In Mr Worthington's beautiful experiments on splashes*, it was 

 found that the fall of a found pebble into water from a height first 

 formed a dip or hollow in the surface, and then caused a filmy 

 "cup" of water to rise up all round, opening out trumpet-fashion 



Fig. 115. Phases of a splash. From Worthington. 



""''^WiW^JSSM, 



''S^^s?*^ 



Fig. 116. A wave breaking into spray. 



or closing in like a bubble, according to the height from which the 

 pebble fell. The cup or "crater" tends to be fluted in alternate 

 ridges and grooves, its edges get scolloped into corresponding lobes 

 and notches, and the projecting lobes or prominences tend to break 

 off or break up into drops or beads (Fig. 115). A similar appearance 

 is seen on a great scale in the edge of a breaking wave : for the smooth 



* A Study of SplasJies, 1908, p. 38, etc.; also various papers in Proc. R.S. 

 1876-1882, and Phil Trans. (A), 1897 and 1900. 



