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When a drop of liquid hits a surface at a sufficiently high speed, it splashes—that much isn't in doubt. But sometimes splashing isn't helpful. Researchers are working on methods of 'splash avoidance' that could prevent splashback of harmful or unhygienic fluids in a range of settings, from hospitals to kitchens - and perhaps even urinals.
In a new paper led by scientists at the University of Oxford and published in the journal Physical Review Letters, researchers show that coating a surface in a thin layer of a soft material like a gel or rubber could provide a simple solution to this problem.
Lead researcher Professor Alfonso Castrejón-Pita, Royal Society University Research Fellow in Oxford's Department of Engineering Science, said: 'We realised that no one had actually studied systematically what happens when droplets hit soft substrates. In our study, we dropped ethanol droplets on to soft materials made of silicone—the material often used in bathroom sealants. Silicone is very useful, as it can be made to have different levels of stiffness, ranging from a material comparable to jelly to something with a consistency more like that of a pencil rubber.
'We filmed the impacts with a high-speed camera at speeds of up to 100,000 frames per second—around 4,000 times faster than a typical mobile phone—and then studied the splashing dynamics. Combining these experiments with some theoretical modelling and detailed computer simulations, we found that tiny deformations of the substrate occur within the first 30 microseconds after impact, which, surprisingly, can be just enough to completely suppress splashing.
You're supposed to aim for the fly.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 11 2016, @03:38PM
Silicone will never make it inside a urinal. It is impossible to clean properly. Toilets and urinals are made of the material they are precisely because you can clean them to the required level of hygiene.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday November 11 2016, @04:17PM
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Thexalon on Friday November 11 2016, @05:40PM
What is "the required level of hygiene"? Keep in mind that (a) you aren't typically eating off of bathroom fixtures, and (b) butts and genitals tend to be cleaner than hands hygiene-wise.
You aren't protecting people from germs, you're protecting people from their disgust at human waste.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 11 2016, @07:52PM
You want to be able to remove it completely, leaving not even a smell behind. Vitreous china (what toilets and urinals are made of today) easily allow you to do that and last forever. Silicone coatings will not.