Inside a micro-reactor

摘要

'Single-bubble sonoluminescence' is the remarkable phenomenon that describes how a gas bubble in liquid, exposed to a strong, standing sound wave, collapses and emits light. First observed 12 years ago, the basic physics of the process seems to be understood. Thatthere is strong and crucial chemical activity inside the sonoluminescing bubble had already been hypothesized and indirectly confirmed. Now Didenko and Suslick (page 394 of this issue) have performed the first direct measurements of the reaction rates inside an individual bubble as it sonoluminesces. Energy-wise, it seems that a sonoluminescing bubble should be viewed not as a light bulb, but rather as a high-temperature, high-pressure, miniature reactor.