John W.M. Bush is an applied mathematician at MIT , where he studies how louse tolerate , paddle , start and jitter along the Earth’s surface of water , via what he calls“interfacial biolocomotion . ”As this TV compiling illustrates , the movements and mechanisms at study are surprisingly complex , and captivating to keep an eye on .
FYFD explainssome of what we ’re seeing :
Waxy , hydrophobiccoatings typically make such dirt ball ’ points of contact ( infantry , legs , etc . ) water - repellant , and their light exercising weight can be underpin bysurface tension . Navigating the interface between air and water is more complicated , though , and these creatures have evolved several mechanisms to aid . Some , like water striders , use extremity they inclose below the control surface for propulsion . At 0:49 in the montage above , you may see flow visualisation of thevorticesgenerated by a stroke . Other worm release a chemical in their wake that lower the local surface tension and drives them away via theMarangoni effect
T0 be vindicated : this is n’t floating . These are different chemical mechanism wholly . To read more about them , visitBush ’s websiteor read this quick explainer featured in Physics Today .
[ Via the always - excellentFuck Yeah Fluid Dynamics ]
bioengineeringPhysics
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