2.2. Motivation: Who cares about surface tension? Chapter 2. Definition and Scaling of Surface Tension 2.2 Motivation: Who cares about surface tension? As we shall soon sev, surface tension dominates gravity on a scale less than the capillary length (roughly 2man). It thus plays a cr science and technology Biology # all small creatures live in @ world dominated by surface tension ‘¢ surface tension important for insects for many basic functions ‘© woight support and propalsion at the water face + adhesion and deadhesion via surface tension ‘+ the pistol shrimp: hunting with bubbles jel role in a variety of small-scale processes arising in biology, environmental carly life: early vessicle formation, confine: ment to an interface oil recovery, carbon sequestration, groundwa- ter flows design of insecticides intended to coat insects, leave plant unharmed chemical leaching and the water-repellency of soils cil spill dynamics and mitigation ‘+ underwater breathing and diving via surface disease transmission via droplet exkelation tension + natural strategies for watertepellency in * “vmamies of magma chambers and voleanoes plants and animals © the exploding lakes of Cameroon the dynamies of lungs and the role of surfac- ‘tants and impurities ‘Technology «+ capillay effects dominant in microgravity set tinge: NASA + cavitation-induced damage on propellers and submarines ‘his nage nas been removed due to copysignt restrictions, Pease see the Image on page hip/inews.sclencemag + cavitation in medicine: used to damage kidney ‘ora/sciencanow/2011/06/spidersAeml#panel-2 stones, tumours ‘© design of supethydrophobie surfaces e.g, selE cleaning windows, drag-reducing or erosion- resistant surfaces Jab-on-a-chip technology: medical diagnostics, Figure 2.1: The diving bell spider ms * " drug delivery Geophysics and environmental science ¢ microlluidies: continuous and discrete Guid the dynamics of raindrops and their role in the transport and mixing biosphere tracking submarines with their surface signe- ‘» most biomaterial is surface acti ture surface of drops / bubbles ticks to the inkjet printing © chomical, thermal and biological transport in the surf zone «© the bubble computer MIT OCW: 18.357 Interfacial Phenomena 5 Prof. John W. M. Bush