New "Hairy" Material Is Almost Perfectly Hydrophobic 133
drewsup writes "Wolfgang Sigmund, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Florida, has created a material modeled after spider hairs that acts as a nearly perfect water-repelling surface. Quoting Science Daily: 'A paper about the surface, which works equally well with hot or cold water, appears in this month's edition of the journal Langmuir. Spiders use their water-repelling hairs to stay dry or avoid drowning, with water spiders capturing air bubbles and toting them underwater to breathe. Potential applications for UF's ultra-water-repellent surfaces are many, Sigmund said. When water scampers off the surface, it picks up and carries dirt with it, in effect making the surface self-cleaning. As such, it is ideal for some food packaging, or windows, or solar cells that must stay clean to gather sunlight, he said. Boat designers might coat hulls with it, making boats faster and more efficient.' Hairy glass, anyone?"
Re:Inside tire treads? (Score:5, Insightful)
We'll know how effective it is (Score:3, Insightful)
when the records start falling in the next olympics.
Re:Do boats go faster because it repels water? (Score:5, Insightful)
Since when evolution guarantees an optimal anatomical structure? If the whale body is "good enough" to survive and reproduce under the environmental conditions whales tend to live in, then why they should have evolved the same microscopic hairs that we see in spiders?
I Feel Better Already (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm sure all those loose broken-off nanohairs, are going to do ahhhhhh my ahhhhhtsm-heeeee ... ahzm-whiiiiiiiiifffffffffff ... asthma .... ahhhhhhh - a lot of good.
After all, they're technological. And therefore completely different from natural irritants - sucha as cat's hairs, pollen or random bursts of chelisserae (don't ask). :)
Re:Do boats go faster because it repels water? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Hydrophopic (Score:2, Insightful)
I wrote that "racist" post. I'm not racist. I'm a troll. If saying "grass is green" was effective as a troll then i would say that. It isn't, so i say "nigger." It obviously worked on you, you really seem to have got your panties in a bunch over it.
Best way to deal with racism is to not take racial things so goddamned seriously. Getting so upset over it is the exact opposite of realizing that "racial" differences are superficial and don't matter because we're all human beings. If someone is discriminated against like in the workplace, by all means take action, do something about it, cuz that's just plain wrong and no, i would never do that or support someone who does that. But if someone says things that don't actually reflect how they feel about black people or any other group, just cuz you find it offensive, why get upset about that? Does it never occur to you oversensitive politically correct types that your whiney reaction is exactly what the troll is counting on?
Re:Hydrophopic (Score:1, Insightful)
It's great that we realise this, but how about we look at why the fuck someone has a need at pissing off people and being a 'troll'?
I'm not a fan of the excessive PC tripe either, and when I was a little less mature I was angry at people for being overly sensitive and not allowing me to discuss taboo subjects, but that doesn't mean that attempted attention grabbing propaganda through a "door in the face" methodology is appropriate. Learn some tact and patience and address the issue earnestly please.