Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh are using animal models to tap into a whole new method of propulsion – natural surface tension. The subsequent boat has no moving parts and could be powered by batteries or even solar panels.
The basic idea comes from the way that certain insects move across the surface of the water. When the insect is on the water, the surface tension pulls it equally from all directions. By bending itself, it can lower the pull on one end by altering the curve of the meniscus, allowing it to be pulled in the opposite direction. The researchers use electric currents to mimic this, and managed to get a mini-“boat” to be maneuverable at a speed of about 14.4 meters/hour. Of course, this seems slow, but if the 2 cm-long device could be scaled up to 100’ boat-sized proportions it would could go around 15 miles per hour – which wouldn’t be too shabby.
Pitt researchers think that this technology might be useful in generating unmanned oceanic robots for scientific research. But I wonder if it couldn’t be used to make gas-free boats that don’t have the adverse affects of current small boats like prop scarring in shallow water or animal injuries and deaths. There’s a bit more info about it from a New Scientist article, if you’re interested. The 1st link is to the PDF from Pitt – and from it, here are a few images:
Boat travelling:
Principle mechanism:
Sounds neat, but will it work if the water isn’t still? I think I need to see the proof-of-concept bath-time toy before I’m convinced!
Hm…. that’s a good question! I assume it could be developed to work since the water would still have some level of tension to it (hydrogen bonds and all), but I do think that should be addressed… I’d be curious to hear the researchers’ response to that.