University of Rochester researchers, inspired by diving bell spiders and rafts of fire ants, have created a metallic structure that is so water repellent, it refuses to sink—no matter how often it is forced into water or how much it is damaged or punctured.
Could this lead to an unsinkable ship? A wearable flotation device that will still float after being punctured? Electronic monitoring devices that can survive in long term in the ocean?
All of the above, says Chunlei Guo, professor of optics and physics, whose lab describes the structure in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces[$].
The structure uses a groundbreaking technique the lab developed for using femtosecond bursts of lasers to "etch" the surfaces of metals with intricate micro- and nanoscale patterns that trap air and make the surfaces superhydrophobic, or water repellent.
The researchers found, however, that after being immersed in water for long periods of time, the surfaces may start to lose their hydrophobic properties.
Enter the spiders and fire ants, which can survive long periods under or on the surface of water. How? By trapping air in an enclosed area. Argyroneta aquatic spiders, for example, create an underwater dome-shaped web—a so-called diving bell— that they fill with air carried from the surface between their super-hydrophobic legs and abdomens. Similarly, fire ants can form a raft by trapping air among their superhydrophobic bodies.
[YOUTUBE VIDEO]: Unsinkable Metal
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday November 08 2019, @03:27PM (3 children)
Eureka! All we need is warships built out of balsa wood and they will never sink!
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday November 08 2019, @04:00PM (2 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday November 08 2019, @04:14PM (1 child)
Nah, I was just making a joke. Apparently, a very bad one.
I'd be inclined to think, this might be somewhat helpful in keeping a ship afloat, but an unsinkable ship, it will not make.
I think Immerman's solution sounds a lot more practical.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday November 09 2019, @12:20AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves