Description
Gecko tape, an example of biomimicry, is so called because it is based on the ability of the gecko to adhere to surfaces – regardless of a surface's orientation – due to millions of microscopic hairs, called setae, on the gecko's toes.
There are also a number of insects that achieve adhesion based on the same principles as the gecko.
Due to a very close contact of the spatulae (very small hairs in the setae), the common thought is that Van der Waals force interactions are involved. Usually there is only Van der Waals interactions in the same material (solids). Because of the very small hairs, a close contact is achieved, which leads to the Van der Waals interaction. This interaction is not very big because the hairs are just small. The large number of hairs makes the total Van der Waals force large. The force can only work with macro angles smaller than 30 degrees. With these small angles, a normal static friction leads to the adhesion. For the gecko it is thus very simple to get loose from the surface. It only has to change its contact angle to the surface.
Read more about this topic: Gecko Tape
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“The Sage of Toronto ... spent several decades marveling at the numerous freedoms created by a “global village” instantly and effortlessly accessible to all. Villages, unlike towns, have always been ruled by conformism, isolation, petty surveillance, boredom and repetitive malicious gossip about the same families. Which is a precise enough description of the global spectacle’s present vulgarity.”
—Guy Debord (b. 1931)
“Do not require a description of the countries towards which you sail. The description does not describe them to you, and to- morrow you arrive there, and know them by inhabiting them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Once a child has demonstrated his capacity for independent functioning in any area, his lapses into dependent behavior, even though temporary, make the mother feel that she is being taken advantage of....What only yesterday was a description of the child’s stage in life has become an indictment, a judgment.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)