= Charlotte Py
{c}
<Charlotte Py> has investigated <elasto-capillarity>, including how <surface tension> deforms an <elastic sheet>. She is the first author of the 2007 study introducing <capillary origami>: spontaneous wrapping of a liquid <droplet> by a flexible sheet.<Capillary Origami: Spontaneous Wrapping of a Droplet with an Elastic Sheet by Charlotte Py and others>[Page156103-1: full author byline, problem and experiments]{ref}
The experiment used thin <polydimethylsiloxane> sheets cut into different shapes. As water evaporated, <surface tension> progressively curved the sheet around the diminishing <droplet>. Square and triangular cuts followed different folding sequences, while sufficiently small or stiff sheets reopened rather than completely enclosing the liquid. This connected an accessible observation with a competition between <surface energy> and elastic bending.<Capillary Origami: Spontaneous Wrapping of a Droplet with an Elastic Sheet by Charlotte Py and others>[Pages156103-1–2; Figure1: wrapping sequences and reopening comparison]{ref}
A complementary loop experiment measured the <elastocapillary length>: a wetting meniscus held a long strip in a loop whose shape could be compared with an elastic calculation. The resulting length scale helped organize the threshold for enclosure across sheet thicknesses and geometries.<Capillary Origami: Spontaneous Wrapping of a Droplet with an Elastic Sheet by Charlotte Py and others>[Page156103-2; Equation1 and Figure2: characteristic length and loop calibration]{ref}
Back to article page
