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Effect of curvature on wetting and dewetting of proboscises of butterflies and moths

Proboscises of butterflies are modelled as elliptical hollow fibres that can be bent into coils. The behaviour of coating films on such complex fibres is investigated to explain the remarkable ability of these insects to control liquid collection after dipping the proboscis into a flower or pressing...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Zhang, Chengqi, Beard, Charles E., Adler, Peter H., Kornev, Konstantin G.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society Publishing 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5792911/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29410834
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171241
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author Zhang, Chengqi
Beard, Charles E.
Adler, Peter H.
Kornev, Konstantin G.
author_facet Zhang, Chengqi
Beard, Charles E.
Adler, Peter H.
Kornev, Konstantin G.
author_sort Zhang, Chengqi
collection PubMed
description Proboscises of butterflies are modelled as elliptical hollow fibres that can be bent into coils. The behaviour of coating films on such complex fibres is investigated to explain the remarkable ability of these insects to control liquid collection after dipping the proboscis into a flower or pressing and mopping it over a food source. By using a thin-film approximation with the air–liquid interface positioned almost parallel to the fibre surface, capillary pressure was estimated from the profile of the fibre surfaces supporting the films. The film is always unstable and the proboscis shape and movements have adaptive value in collecting fluid: coiling and bending of proboscises of butterflies and moths facilitate fluid collection. Some practical applications of this effect are discussed with regard to fibre engineering.
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spelling pubmed-57929112018-02-06 Effect of curvature on wetting and dewetting of proboscises of butterflies and moths Zhang, Chengqi Beard, Charles E. Adler, Peter H. Kornev, Konstantin G. R Soc Open Sci Biology (Whole Organism) Proboscises of butterflies are modelled as elliptical hollow fibres that can be bent into coils. The behaviour of coating films on such complex fibres is investigated to explain the remarkable ability of these insects to control liquid collection after dipping the proboscis into a flower or pressing and mopping it over a food source. By using a thin-film approximation with the air–liquid interface positioned almost parallel to the fibre surface, capillary pressure was estimated from the profile of the fibre surfaces supporting the films. The film is always unstable and the proboscis shape and movements have adaptive value in collecting fluid: coiling and bending of proboscises of butterflies and moths facilitate fluid collection. Some practical applications of this effect are discussed with regard to fibre engineering. The Royal Society Publishing 2018-01-17 /pmc/articles/PMC5792911/ /pubmed/29410834 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171241 Text en © 2018 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Biology (Whole Organism)
Zhang, Chengqi
Beard, Charles E.
Adler, Peter H.
Kornev, Konstantin G.
Effect of curvature on wetting and dewetting of proboscises of butterflies and moths
title Effect of curvature on wetting and dewetting of proboscises of butterflies and moths
title_full Effect of curvature on wetting and dewetting of proboscises of butterflies and moths
title_fullStr Effect of curvature on wetting and dewetting of proboscises of butterflies and moths
title_full_unstemmed Effect of curvature on wetting and dewetting of proboscises of butterflies and moths
title_short Effect of curvature on wetting and dewetting of proboscises of butterflies and moths
title_sort effect of curvature on wetting and dewetting of proboscises of butterflies and moths
topic Biology (Whole Organism)
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5792911/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29410834
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171241
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