This letter presents a study of the effect of surface superhydrophobicity on piercing force and detaching force of water strider’s leg when it vertically contact with water surface. We showed that in contrast to the parallel contact of the leg with water at which the piercing force is insensitive to the contact angle which raised much debate on the functions of superhydrophobicity of water strider’s leg, the piercing force of the vertical contact is, however, very sensitive to the contact angle, which then suggests the surface superhydrophobicity is indeed crucial for water strider’s free and safe activities on water surface.
REFERENCES
1.
R. B.
Suter
, O.
Rosenberg
, S.
Loeb
, H.
Wildman
, and J. H.
Long
, J. Exp. Biol.
200
, 2523
(1997
).2.
3.
D. L.
Hu
, B.
Chan
, and J. W. M.
Bush
, Nature
424
, 663
(2003
). 4.
X.
Gao
and L.
Jiang
, Nature
432
, 36
(2004
). 5.
X.
Feng
, X.
Gao
, Z.
Wu
, L.
Jiang
, and Q.
Zheng
, Langmuir
23
, 4892
(2007
). 6.
A. B. D.
Cassie
and S.
Baxter
, Trans. Faraday Soc.
40
, 546
(1944
). 7.
C.
Neinhuis
and W.
Barthlott
, Ann. Bot.
79
, 667
(1997
). 8.
Y.
Su
, B.
Ji
, K.
Zhang
, H.
Gao
, Y.
Huang
, and K.
Hwang
, Langmuir
26
, 4984
(2010
). 9.
Q.
Zheng
, Y.
Yu
, and Z.
Zhao
, Langmuir
21
, 12207
(2005
). 10.
J.
Liu
, X.
Feng
, and G.
Wang
, Phys. Rev. E
76
, 066103
(2007
). 11.
12.
Y.
Su
, B.
Ji
, Y.
Huang
, and K.
Hwang
, Langmuir
26
, 18926
(2010
). 13.
Q.
Zheng
, Y.
Yu
, and X.
Feng
, J. Adhes. Sci. Technol.
23
, 493
(2009
). 14.
BesselI and BesselK are modified Bessel functions of the first and second kind, respectively. BesselI(0,x) increases from 1 to infinity, and BesselK(0,x) decreases from infinity to zero when x changes from zero to infinity.
15.
Y.
Su
, B.
Ji
, Y.
Huang
, and K.
Hwang
, J. Mater. Sci.
42
, 8885
(2007
). © 2011 American Institute of Physics.
2011
American Institute of Physics
You do not currently have access to this content.