Yu Y, Guo M, Li Xide, Zheng Q-S
Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Langmuir. 2007 Oct 9;23(21):10546-50. doi: 10.1021/la700411q. Epub 2007 Sep 18.
Some insects can climb up the top of the meniscus surface generated by a hydrophilic wall by fixing their posture without moving their appendages [Baudoin, R. Bull. Biol. Fr. Belg. 1955, 89, 16. Hu, D. L.; Bush, J. W. M. Nature 2005, 437, 733]. To better understand this interesting phenomenon, we did meniscus-climbing experiments of bent copper sheets. It was found that the sheets do not always climb up the top of the meniscus surface but may stop and stably stay at various positions on the meniscus surface, depending upon their curvatures and masses, and that bent copper sheets can self-assemble into an oriented array (or an anisotropic form) through self-rotating on the water surface. The minimum energy mechanism of meniscus-climbing and self-rotating was then numerically studied. It was further shown that the meniscus-climbing and the rotating behavior is not only a general phenomenon for floating objects with hydrophilic surfaces, even those with fairly large sizes and weights (e.g., a metal bottle cap), but is also conditionally realizable for floating objects with hydrophobic surfaces.
一些昆虫可以通过固定姿势而不移动其附肢爬上由亲水壁产生的弯月面顶部[鲍杜安，R.《法国和比利时生物学通报》1955年，89卷，16页。胡，D.L.；布什，J.W.M.《自然》2005年，437卷，733页]。为了更好地理解这一有趣现象，我们对弯曲铜板进行了爬弯月面实验。结果发现，铜板并不总是爬上弯月面顶部，而是可能会根据其曲率和质量在弯月面表面的不同位置停下来并稳定停留，并且弯曲铜板可以通过在水面上自旋转自组装成定向阵列（或各向异性形式）。然后对爬弯月面和自旋转的最小能量机制进行了数值研究。进一步表明，爬弯月面和旋转行为不仅是具有亲水表面的漂浮物体（甚至是那些尺寸和重量相当大的物体，如金属瓶盖）的普遍现象，而且对于具有疏水表面的漂浮物体在一定条件下也是可以实现的。
