Perfume, wick, diffusion......

[sector6]

Dear All,

 

I have a question involving a perfume bottle with a wick to 'disperse' the smell to the atmosphere.

 

Please see the attached diagramme.

What is the minimum gap 'd' so that the perfume will still be taken-up by the wick (due to the atmospheric pressure) so that people can smell the same level of perfume? The gap must be small enough so that when the bottle is inverted, the perfume won't leak through the hole.

 

I tried to think back to my physics lessons but nothing useful came up...... 'd' has to be larger than a nitrogen molecule for it to pass through but how large it must be in order the wick to work normally and to prevent leakages when the bottle is inverted. The attractive force between the perfume molecules will determine whether it'll leak or not but what equations can we use for this?

 

Thanks,

sector6

Edited April 5, 2016 by sector6

[Enthalpy]

A minute hole will suffice, provided it doesn't get clogged up. I feel the hole for the wick is more of a worry.

What can prevent leakage through a small hole is surface tension.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_tension

[sector6]

@Enthalpy: Thanks a mill.! Will read up on surface tension and see what I could get.

 

UPDATE:I remembered this equation was taught in my maths module at university! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young-Laplace_equation

Edited April 6, 2016 by sector6