Chemical Engineering in Daily Life – Question 56: How can we explain water droplets rolling on lotus leaves?
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Remaining pure despite being in muddy waters, emerging like a lotus flower – these are all descriptions of the lotus. In fact, among water plants, the most remarkable part of the lotus is its leaves. On days after rain or wind, you can see water droplets rolling on the lotus leaves. Those water droplets are almost spherical in shape; it seems that Earth’s gravity is being blocked by the lotus leaf. 1. Why does water roll in beads on lotus leaves? 2. Why do I say “water droplets” here instead of “dew drops,” even though it was the Nth time this morning during my morning exercise that I observed water droplets rolling on the lotus leaves? Last night the weather was clear, and there was a large temperature difference between day and night. 3. If I make a model in the shape of a lotus leaf using some kind of polymer material and then coat its surface with paraffin, can this phenomenon of water droplets rolling off be reproduced?
Is this a chemical phenomenon, or is it a matter of physical surface tension?
1. Surface tension is covered in surface chemistry (physical chemistry); is it discussed in other physics courses as well? 2. This question is a bit difficult.
The principle is not yet clear: L 3. If I make a model in the shape of a lotus leaf using some kind of polymer material and then coat its surface with paraffin, can this phenomenon of water droplets rolling off be reproduced? Be able to
Good afternoon, teacher. I saw this question before; I encountered it some time ago as well, but I can’t remember what the principle behind it is
Paraffin can be used; can lard be used as well? ? ? ? ?
Hehe, when a teacher talks about physics and chemistry in detail, it seems very complex ----------------------------------- This might be related to membrane technology
Sure, it’s common to see water droplets rolling on lard in the form of beads.
The last edit to this post was made by *nht1 on 2015-8-30 at 15:32. Is there some hydrophobic substance on lotus leaves that prevents proper wetting of the surface, resulting in a nearly spherical shape? This nearly spherical form might be an external manifestation of water’s surface tension
When discussing surface tension in physical chemistry textbooks, examples are given; there is a term called the contact angle
Physical chemistry textbooks only provide simple examples; in reality, it is more complex.