Would a raindrop impacting on a coarse beach behave differently from that impacting on a
desert of fine sand? We study this question by a series of model experiments, where the
packing density of the granular target, the wettability of individual grains, the grain size, the
impacting liquid, and the impact speed are varied. We find that by increasing the grain size
and/or the wettability of individual grains the maximum droplet spreading undergoes a
transition from a capillary regime towards a viscous regime, and splashing is suppressed …

Would a raindrop impacting on a coarse beach behave differently from that impacting on a
desert of fine sand? We study this question by a series of model experiments, where the
packing density of the granular target, the wettability of individual grains, the grain size, the
impacting liquid, and the impact speed are varied. We find that by increasing the grain size
and/or the wettability of individual grains the maximum droplet spreading undergoes a
transition from a capillary regime towards a viscous regime, and splashing is suppressed …