Abstract
An instrument which exploits the `tube-arrest' technique of subjecting a column of liquid to tension by dynamic stressing is described. In this apparatus two tension pulses are produced, one ab initio within the liquid, the other by free-surface reflection of a cavitation-generated shock wave. A method of deriving the tensile strength of a liquid from measurements of the velocity of these pulses is presented, and previous assumptions concerning the origin of tension in the `tube-arrest' technique are critically examined. The initial tension pulse is shown not to arise at the bottom of the liquid column as has been assumed hitherto, and the means by which cavitation is exploited to study the production of liquid jets by shock wave-bubble interaction are explained.

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