I was experimenting with dropping steel balls into water. Some of them coated with hydrophobic stuff, including soot and nose oil. No, that's not a fancy brand name, it just what it sounds like. But after the fun of balls hitting water, I thought it would be interesting to drop a candle into water. I was hoping that the cavity formed by the hydrophobic material hitting the water would allow for the flame to continue burning when the candle went below the surface of the water. I managed to get it just about perfect on the first try.
Not a bad end to the day.
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Water is wet - except when...
...it hits a water-repellant surface. In this case, compare what happens to a drop of water when it hits glass:
to water hitting a fabric that has been treated with a special nano-scale coating that causes the water to bead up:
The thin, spread-out film of water that forms on glass occurs because the water droplets "wet" the surface of the glass (through adhesion). The water molecules do not "stick" to the specially treated fabric and surface tension holds the water droplet together in little spheres. This is sometimes referred to as the Lotus Effect because the micro structures of the lotus leaf also cause water to form tiny spherical droplets instead of adhering to the surface.
to water hitting a fabric that has been treated with a special nano-scale coating that causes the water to bead up:
The thin, spread-out film of water that forms on glass occurs because the water droplets "wet" the surface of the glass (through adhesion). The water molecules do not "stick" to the specially treated fabric and surface tension holds the water droplet together in little spheres. This is sometimes referred to as the Lotus Effect because the micro structures of the lotus leaf also cause water to form tiny spherical droplets instead of adhering to the surface.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)