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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The Death of the Teapot Effect

Technology Review: Blogs: arXiv blog: The Death of the Teapot Effect: "Now Cyril Duez at the University of Lyon in France and a few amis, have identified the single factor at the heart of the problem and shown how to tackle it. They say that the culprit is a 'hydro-capillary' effect that keeps the liquid in contact with the material as it leaves the lip. The previously identified factors all determine the strength of this hydro-cappillary effect.

So how to overcome it? There are two ways say Duez and co. The first is to make the lip as thin as possible. That's why teapots with spouts made from thin metal are less likely to dribble.

The second is to coat the lip with the latest generation of superhydrophobic materials which strongly repel water. Duez and co show how this stops dribbling at a stroke. 'Superhydrophobic surfaces fully avoid dripping, and thus beat the 'teapot effect',' they say."

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