Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
Charged drop levitation is described for two different kinds of levitators. It is demonstrated that the feedback-controlled electrostatic levitator is capable of levitating a several milimeter size large drop in 1 g, and it can be used in various experiments such as crystal growth, supercooling and solidification, and drop dynamics. Charged droplet levitation in a vertical, linear quadrupole levitator is described, and its advantages are demonstrated taking the charged drop instability experiment as an example. The cause of the observed premature burstings are speculated to be not by the Rayleigh limit but, rather, by an electron avalanch in the surrounding gaseous medium. No evidence was found that the burtings accompaied by mass loss, in direct contrast to the most of the previous reports by Doyle et.al.and Abbas and Latham.