Cell growth in a 3D cellular system undergoing coalescence

Cellular materials (dense emulsions, foams, and vesicles) made out of two different phases, one being dispersed in the other, may coarsen in time through coalescence or rupturing events of the thin liquid domains that separate adjacent cells. In this Letter we study the destruction through coalescence of a model cellular material: A monodisperse dense emulsion. We show that the frequency of rupturing events is proportional to the surface of contact between the droplets, and we measure the activation energy and the natural frequency associated with coalescence. We point out that this process of destruction remarkably preserves monodispersity throughout the growth. [S0031-9007(98)08081-8].