Abstract

We report experimental measurements of the acoustic emission associated with the bursting of a gas bubble at the free surface of a non-Newtonian fluid. On account of the viscoelastic properties of the fluid, the bubble is generally elongated. The associated frequency and duration of the acoustic signal are discussed with regard to the shape of the bubble and successfully accounted for by a simple linear model. The acoustic energy exhibits a high sensitivity to the dynamics of the thin film bursting, which demonstrates that, in practice, it is barely possible to deduce from the acoustic measurements the total amount of energy released by the event. Our experimental findings provide clues for the understanding of the signals from either volcanoes or foams, where one observes respectively, the bursting of giant bubbles at the free surface of lava and bubble bursting avalanches. © 2008 The American Physical Society.