Humans can now climb walls like Spider—Man Tiger
2015-10-21
导读:人也可以像蜘蛛侠一样爬墙了!
Scientists have long been researching geckos and how they can climb so well. It turns out that their hairy toes allow them to stick to surfaces so well, and that discovery inspired this device that allows humans to climb a glass wall like Spider-Man!
The silicone pads, called microwedges, are even more sticky than gecko toes. They allowed a 155-pound man to climb up an 11-foot glass wall with one pad in each hand.
These super sticky silicone pads were created by scientists at Stanford University. They use the same skill as gecko feet, which is known as the van der Waals force.
The van der Waals force results when two surfaces come into very close contact at as many points as possible. When their molecules get very close to one another the van der Waals force produces an electromagnetic pull between the molecules while their electrons start to interact.
The van der Waals force is not very strong, but it is made stronger by the many, many hairs that cover gecko toes and allows them to stick to surfaces.
Out of hundreds of tests on the wall, the pads never failed to stick once!
Vocabulary
gecko n. 壁虎
silicone pad 導热硅胶片
molecule n. 分子
electromagnetic adj.电磁的
(Do you have any dreams like climbing a wall? Try your best to live your dreams!)