{"161561":{"#nid":"161561","#data":{"type":"event","title":"Staying Dry to Stay Alive: The Ant Raft and Other Water-repellent Systems","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch5\u003ESchool of Physics Soft Condensed Matter \u0026amp; Biophysics Seminar: Presenting\u0026nbsp;David Hu, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/h5\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe present a series of experiments demonstrating how animals stay dry. \u0026nbsp;These adaptations are necessary for survival in rain and other wet environments. \u0026nbsp;During flash floods, fire ants weave hydrophobic rafts with their own bodies in order to keep their colonies dry. \u0026nbsp;We discuss their method of self-assembly and present a model that predicts their construction rate. \u0026nbsp;To survive raindrop impacts, flying mosquitoes take advantage of their low mass, which prevents drops from splashing upon impact. \u0026nbsp;The resulting force applied is 100-300 gravities, quite possibly the largest survivable force in the natural world. \u0026nbsp;Animals much larger than insects employ active mechanisms to shed water. \u0026nbsp;Mammals across four magnitudes in mass can shake off 70% of the water on their bodies in fractions of a second. \u0026nbsp;We show that wet mammals shake at tuned frequencies to dry and present a scaling law relating animal size and frequencies required to dry. \u0026nbsp;In this talk, the audience will learn the basics of modeling and experimentation with surface-tension phenomena.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Physics Soft Condensed Matter \u0026amp; Biophysics Seminar: Presenting\u0026nbsp;David Hu, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"School of Physics Soft Condensed Matter \u0026 Biophysics Seminar: Presenting David Hu, Georgia Institute of Technology"}],"uid":"27664","created_gmt":"2012-10-12 13:54:43","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 02:00:34","author":"Alison Morain","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2012-10-17T16:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2012-10-17T17:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2012-10-17T17:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2012-10-17 20:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2012-10-17 21:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2012-10-17 21:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"46181","name":"water repellent systems"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1795","name":"Seminar\/Lecture\/Colloquium"}],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:alison.morain@physics.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ealison.morain@physics.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}