Engineers identify how to keep surfaces dry underwater (w/video)
Imagine staying dry underwater for months. Now Northwestern University engineers have examined a wide variety of surfaces that can do just that -- and, better yet, they know why.
The research team is the first to identify the ideal "roughness" needed in the texture of a surface to keep it dry for a long period of time when submerged in water. The valleys in the surface roughness typically need to be less than one micron in width, the researchers found. That's really small -- less than one millionth of a meter -- but these nanoscopic valleys have macroscopic impact.
