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Hairy Adhesives

Posted by michael on from the hairpiece dept.

Ant writes "Science Daily has an article about scientists having found that the way spiders stick to ceilings could be the key to making Post-it notes that don't fall off even when they are wet. A team from Germany and Switzerland have made the first detailed examinations of a jumping spider's 'foot' and have discovered that a molecular force sticks the spider to almost anything. The force is so strong that these spiders could carry over 170 times their own body weight while standing on the ceiling. The research is published today (Monday 19 April 2004) in the Institute of Physics journal Smart Materials and Structures." Other researchers are actually exploring ways to make a sort of non-glue adhesive tape.

6 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. One thing that's never been clear by Smidge204 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There's been a few stories about how spiders and geckos and the like have "super atomic grip" that allows them to cling to just about any surface. What always kinda throws me is, if these critters can theoretically hold many times their own body weight with the adhesive force of their feet... how do they manage to walk?

    Finally, the article gives a rational answer! Huzzah for science!
    =Smidge=

    1. Re:One thing that's never been clear by bigg_nate · · Score: 5, Informative
      From the article:

      The total van der Waals force on the spider's feet is very strong, but it is the sum of many very small forces on each molecule. The researchers believe the spider lifts its leg so that the setules are lifted successively, not all at once, and it does not need to be very strong to do this. All you would have to do to lift a future kind of Post-it® note is peel it off slowly.

  2. clues from nature by sharkdba · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...the way spiders stick to ceilings could be the key to making Post-it notes that don't fall off even when they are wet.

    Taking clues from nature in various engineering projects is excellent idea, since nature is simply so much more advanced in a lot of examples. Bats' radar system comes to mind, I believe this was studied as well.

    --
    The purpose of life is to find the purpose of life.
  3. link? by chachob · · Score: 3, Funny

    hmm...why is the link to Post-It notes to the post-it software? those don't need to be stuck to a surface...

  4. We've known gecko feet work like this for years by infernow · · Score: 5, Informative
    I don't think this is as much of a breakthrough as the article makes it out to be. We've known that geckos use Van der Waals forces to climb things for years.

    Here's an article from nature.com from 2000 that talks about gecko feet, and here's another from 2002 about how scientists have developed prototype adhesives based on what they learned from geckos. One of the articles even talks about experiments from 30 years ago, wherein researchers found that geckos do not stick to Teflon, which does not produce Van der Waals forces.

    So while we may not have known that spiders use Van der Waals forces as well, we have known for years that animals have been using the force to stick to things.

    --

    that that is is that that is not is not

  5. Better Post-it Notes by rpiquepa · · Score: 3, Informative

    You'll find extra references and pictures on my blog.