We simulate the response of a particle-stabilized emulsion droplet in an
external force field, such as gravity, acting equally on all N particles. We
show that the field strength required for breakup (at fixed initial area
fraction) decreases markedly with droplet size, because the forces act
cumulatively, not individually, to detach the interfacial particles. The
breakup mode involves the collective destabilization of a solidified particle
raft occupying the lower part of the droplet, leading to a critical force per
particle that scales approximately as Nβ1/2.Comment: 4 pages, plus 3 pages of supplementary materia