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Chem.Eng,Comm., 192: 550-556, 2005 BREAKUP OF BUBBLES RISING IN LIQUIDS OF LOW- AND MODERATE-VISCOSITY WICHTERLE K.*, WICHTERLOVá J. , KULHáNKOVá L. VSB-Technical University of Ostrava, 70833 Ostrava Poruba, Czech Republic Tel. 420 (69) 699 4304, Fax: 420 (69) 691 8647, e-mail: kamil.wichterle@vsb.cz The breakup rate of bubbles was studied by observing them rising in water and in glycerol solutions with μ=1-32 mPas. A levitating technique was applied with bubbles seized in the downstream liquid flow of a diverging channel. Bubbles with volumes VB=0.2-0.8 cm3 are generally spheroid but their shape pulsates. As they wobble they have a tendency to split. The exponential decay of the number of unbroken bubbles was found which has been characterized quantitatively by a half-life, t1/2. The rate of breakup increased significantly with the original size of the bubble. By regression of experimental data, the proportionality t1/2?~?VB–4 has been determined. There is a significant effect of surface tension, while the effect of viscosity on the process appeared to be negligible in the bubble Reynolds number range of 603000 that was investigated. Keywords: aeration, bubble, dispersion, multiphase flow, particle, stability Introduction Systems with bubbles in liquid are very common both in natural environment and in process technologies. Bubbles can be used to induce liquid flow in airlift systems, to agitate liquids, particularly the suspension of solids and to contact liquid with gases, be it in distillation, absorption or degassing to complex chemical reactions. The motion of bubbles plays an important role also in heat transfer processes, particularly during liquid boiling. Investigation of behavior of a single bubble is the first step to the understanding of momentum, heat and mass transfer in gas-liquid processes. Current knowledge of the subject is presented in the monograph by Clift, Grace and Weber [1]. Essentially, the bubble shape is determined by the ratio of gr