Rise of oil drops in water and fall of water drops in oil

Rise and fall velocities of oil drops in water and water drops in oil, respectively, are measured in a liquid column. The main perspective is on the similarity of the flows in these largely different cases. When the experimental data are plotted as the normalized rise velocity, which is the Reynolds number, versus the Archimedes number a common curve appears. This proves that similarity exists at least with respect to the velocity. Larger drops deviate considerably from the spherical shape. Nevertheless the data set can be represented by a formula derived from data on hard spheres. In particular the Stokes limit for Re -> 0 is nicely confirmed by measuring down to 10(- 4).