A NOVEL HYPOTHESIS CONCERNING THE ORIGINS OF CAVITATION BUBBLES

Some Previous Theories and Egperimenta l Work Various explanatio ns have been put forward for the orig-, ins of cavitation bubbles.Amongst these have been the theories of Fox andHerzfiel d (l), Pease and Blinks (2) and of Harvey et al (5); the theory of Harvey et al is now widely held.Harvey suggested that, in water, a tapered hydrophobic depression could host a pocket of gas and that, given a suitably small semi vertical angle, such a 'gas nucleus' would be stabilised against diffusion (see figures 1 and 2).Strasberg (A) and Apfel (5) have developed Harvey's theory, assuming