Overcoming Rayleigh-Plateau instabilities: Stabilizing and destabilizing liquid-metal streams via electrochemical oxidation.

Liquids typically form droplets when exiting a nozzle. Jets--cylindrical streams of fluid-can form transiently at higher fluid velocities, yet interfacial tension rapidly drives jet breakup into droplets via the Rayleigh-Plateau instability. Liquid metal is an unlikely candidate to form stable jets since it has enormous interfacial tension and low viscosity.