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Write the perturbation as $\eta e^{ikx+st}$ and use the same factor for all velocity and pressure amplitudes. At the upper interface, the linearized kinematic boundary condition, zero tangential traction, and normal-stress balance areThe first term in the normal stress is the linearization of the attractive disjoining pressure $V/h^3$, while the second is the stabilizing capillary pressure. Symmetry about $y=0$ makes $u$ even and $v$ odd, and supplies the lower-interface conditions.

For a two-dimensional Fourier mode, the Papkovich–Neuber representation is equivalently expressed by the odd Biharmonic stream function for planar Stokes flowThe tangential-stress condition at $y=h_0$, with $K=k{h}_0$, giveswhereas the kinematic condition gives $iB\sinh K=s\eta$. The associated normal traction isEquating this with the linearized interfacial traction yields the dispersion relationThis is the Van der Waals rupture instability of a viscous sheet.

For $\Gamma =0$, the growth rate is positive, starts from $3V/(4\mu h_0^3)$ as $K\to 0$, and decreases to zero like $3V/(2\mu h_0^{3}K)$ as $K\to \infty$. For $\Gamma =1$, it has the same long-wave limit, vanishes at $K=1$, and is negative for $K>1$: surface tension damps wavelengths shorter than the cutoff. Long waves feel the attractive interaction but require coherent flow over a large distance; at short wavelengths viscous resistance suppresses the clean-film instability, while capillarity adds direct decay. A finite film size, fluid inertia, surrounding-fluid stresses, gravity, surface viscosity, and failure of the continuum disjoining pressure law can shift the observable most unstable wavelength.

During a growing thin spot, interfacial flow stretches the surface and dilutes its surfactant, thereby increasing the local surface tension above ${\gamma }_0$. Adjacent less-stretched regions retain more surfactant and lower tension. The resulting surface-tension gradient pulls toward the thin spot and opposes the outward flow that drives thinning. This is surfactant stabilization of film rupture; in the strong limit the surfaces behave almost as immobile boundaries.

For strong surfactant and $\Gamma \gg 1$, instability requires $K=O({\Gamma }^{-1/2})$. The Taylor expansionreduces the supplied relation toIt is maximal atThus the characteristic rupture time is $s_{\max }^{-1}=4\mu {\gamma }_0{h}_0^5/(3V^2)$. Surfactant greatly extends the life of a soap bubble while its film is moderately thick, but the $h_0^{-5}$ growth-rate dependence predicts rapid final rupture after drainage has made the film sufficiently thin.

For a binary fluid mixture, the scalar compositional order parameter $\varphi (\mathbf{r})$ may be taken as the local concentration difference between its two molecular species. Its spatial integral is fixed by their separately fixed total amounts:Locally, $\varphi$ can change only through transport and therefore obeys a continuity equation. By contrast, $\mathbf{p}$ is the local polar order parameter measuring the mean tail-to-head orientation of the surfactant molecules. Individual molecules can rotate in place, so the integral of $\mathbf{p}$ need not be conserved.