Hairy Adhesives 41
Ant writes "Science Daily has an article about scientists having found that the way spiders stick to ceilings could be the key to making Post-it notes that don't fall off even when they are wet. A team from Germany and Switzerland have made the first detailed examinations of a jumping spider's 'foot' and have discovered that a molecular force sticks the spider to almost anything. The force is so strong that these spiders could carry over 170 times their own body weight while standing on the ceiling. The research is published today (Monday 19 April 2004) in the Institute of Physics journal Smart Materials and Structures." Other researchers are actually exploring ways to make a sort of non-glue adhesive tape.
"standing on the ceiling" (Score:3, Funny)
Re:"standing on the ceiling" (Score:1)
Just as you can say the condor can "stand" still on the sky, as oposed to "fly".
Re:If spiders are so tough (Score:1)
Re:If spiders are so tough (Score:1, Funny)
Re:If spiders are so tough (Score:1)
One thing that's never been clear (Score:4, Interesting)
Finally, the article gives a rational answer! Huzzah for science!
=Smidge=
Re:One thing that's never been clear (Score:5, Informative)
The total van der Waals force on the spider's feet is very strong, but it is the sum of many very small forces on each molecule. The researchers believe the spider lifts its leg so that the setules are lifted successively, not all at once, and it does not need to be very strong to do this. All you would have to do to lift a future kind of Post-it® note is peel it off slowly.
Re:One thing that's never been clear (Score:1)
Finally, the article gives a rational answer! Huzzah for science!
=Smidge=
Re:One thing that's never been clear (Score:1)
clues from nature (Score:3, Interesting)
Taking clues from nature in various engineering projects is excellent idea, since nature is simply so much more advanced in a lot of examples. Bats' radar system comes to mind, I believe this was studied as well.
Re:clues from nature (Score:1)
Got to hand it to them (Score:2, Funny)
Hurrah - one of the great problems of our times is about to be solved! But seriously, a quick experiment with a post-it note and my bottle of whisky shows that they stick rather well when wet.
Re:Got to hand it to them (Score:3, Funny)
But the thought of supporting 170 times my weight is interesting. Can I climb up the sides of tall buildings clutching a handful of post-its?
Re:Got to hand it to them (Score:2)
"help post-it notes stick even when wet" (Score:3, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)
Where's the obligatory "spider man joke"? (Score:1)
link? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:link? (Score:2)
We've known gecko feet work like this for years (Score:5, Informative)
Here's an article from nature.com [nature.com] from 2000 that talks about gecko feet, and here's another [nature.com] from 2002 about how scientists have developed prototype adhesives based on what they learned from geckos. One of the articles even talks about experiments from 30 years ago, wherein researchers found that geckos do not stick to Teflon, which does not produce Van der Waals forces.
So while we may not have known that spiders use Van der Waals forces as well, we have known for years that animals have been using the force to stick to things.
Re:We've known gecko feet work like this for years (Score:1)
Good For The Kids! (Score:2)
Obstacle (Score:3, Informative)
This means that, before this stuff can be produced as an ultra-strong adhesive, we will need to understand - and replicate/emulate - the biological process by which the hairs are produced.
Re:Obstacle (Score:1)
whnever i shave, hair are produced...errr..grown
any takers?
Re:Obstacle (Score:2)
-psy
Cool party trick ... (Score:1)
Re:Cool party trick ... (Score:2)
Better Post-it Notes (Score:4, Informative)
Automobile tires (Score:2)
Re:Automobile tires (Score:1)
Re:Automobile tires (Score:1)