Curiouser and Curiouser! on wierd-science http://matt.blogs.it/ RSS feed for topic wierd-science Copyright 2006 Matt Mower Squib/0.1 self@mattmower.com self@mattmower.com en-gb Ah Lotus blossom Wed, 16 Mar 2005 22:41:47 +0000 <p>I was listening to a program on Radio 4 this evening which covered the field of Biomimetics. It was quite an interesting program but especially in it's coverage of the <em>lotus effect</em>. This is the effect seen in Lotus flowers where the leaves are a perfectly slippery surface so that water, dirt, seemingly anything just slides right off them.</p> <p>Some german scientists have discovered that, somewhat unintuitively, the surface of the lotus petal is not smooth but intricately knobbly at the microscopic level. This knobblyness means that little of the surface of the petal is ever in contact with anything touching it and so there is practically no friction.</p> <p>During the program you could hear a number of demonstrations of the lotus effect such as a spoon with <em>lotus effect surface</em>. Honey slid off the spoon as if it was mercury. The demo's were obviously pretty cool to watch. And this is where the majesty of Radio just didn't cut it!</p> <p>What bugs me though is that, try as I might, I can't find a good video demonstration on the web.</p> <p>Beyond honey-proof spoons there was much discussion of the use of the lotus effect in self-cleaning buildings and within hospitals (since it is so slippery that even biofilms won't adhere).</p> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002467.html