ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Marangoni effect

Marangoni effect is a big fancy word for something that happens when you mix different liquids together. Imagine you have two cups of water, one with salt and one without. If you pour the salty water into the plain water, you might notice something weird happening on the surface.

The salt water will start to spread out from the place where the two liquids meet. It will create a sort of wave that will continue moving until the salt concentration evens out. This is the Marangoni effect.

But why does this happen? It's because of something called surface tension. Surface tension is like the skin on top of a liquid. It keeps everything in place and helps things float. But different liquids have different surface tensions.

When you mix them together, the surface tension will change. That difference creates waves that ripple through the liquids, which can create the Marangoni effect.

It might sound complicated, but it's basically just two liquids creating waves when they're mixed together. Scientists named it after an Italian scientist named Carlo Marangoni who first observed the effect in the 1800s.