  Droplets at the air-liquid interface of immiscible liquids usually form
partially-submerged lens shapes (e.g. water on oil). In addition to this
structure, we showed that droplets released from critical heights above the
target liquid can sustain the impact and at the end maintain a spherical
ball-shape configuration above the surface, despite undergoing large
deformation. Spherical drops are unstable and will transform into the lens mode
due to slight disturbances. Precision dispensing needles with various tip
diameter sizes were used to release pendant drops of deionized water onto the
surface of fluorocarbon liquid (FC-43, 3M). A cubic relationship was found
between the nozzle tip diameter and the released droplet diameter. Drop impact
was recorded by a high speed camera at a rate of 2000 frames per second. In
order for the water drops to sustain the impact and retain a spherical
configuration at the surface of the target liquid pool, it is required that
they be of a critical size and be released from a certain height; otherwise the
commonly observed lens shape droplets will form at the surface.
