{"id":1206,"date":"2021-12-07T23:56:28","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T22:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/?post_type=unit&p=1206"},"modified":"2021-12-07T23:56:45","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T22:56:45","slug":"nanoineverydaylife_01-idols-in-nature","status":"publish","type":"unit","link":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/unit\/nanoineverydaylife_01-idols-in-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Idols in nature"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the action film Mission: Impossible<\/em>, secret agent Ethan Hunt climbs up a glass building with gecko gloves. The idea is based on the adhesion principle of real geckos, which can walk up glass walls or upside down without much effort and without falling.<\/p>\n

To do this, they use the so-called Van der Waals forces. These forces form between individual atoms and molecules. The charge in the atoms shifts in such a way that they act like small magnets and attract each other.<\/p>\n

To be able to use this effect, geckos have millions of so-called \u201csetae\u201d on their feet, hair-like tips, each of which in turn ends in a bundle of very fine tips. This surface forms a bond with the surface on which the gecko moves, based on Van der Waals forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Remember<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Van der Waals forces<\/strong><\/p>\n

Van der Waals forces occur when the charges in atoms spontaneously shift in such a way that they act like small magnets and attract each other.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Chameleons also use nanotechnology. Within a few minutes, chameleons can radically change their skin colour. This ability can be very useful, especially for camouflage against enemies. Behind the play of colours are nanocrystals, which are in the skin of the reptiles. They have two superimposed layers of specialised skin cells, so-called iridophores, which reflect light with the help of nanocrystals.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The nanocrystals are arranged in the form of a grid in the upper skin layer of the chameleons, which is only fully developed in the males. They are also smaller than in the lower skin layer. The colour of the chameleon depends on the distance between the crystal layers and can thus be varied.\"\"<\/p>\n

The nanocrystals are close together when relaxed, which leads to the reflection of short-wave blue light. Due to the yellow pigments in the animals’ skin, the chameleon appears green in the mixed colour when relaxed.<\/p>\n

When the reptile is stressed, the structure of the crystals changes so that they are up to 30 percent further apart than in a relaxed state. Now, long-wave red light is reflected and the animal changes colour from yellow to orange.<\/p>\n

However, the lower, much thicker iridophore layer of the chameleon has another function. Due to the larger and chaotically arranged cells, mainly light in the infrared range is reflected. As a result, the reptiles do not heat up so quickly and can survive even in areas with strong sunlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Excurse<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Reflection and transmission of light<\/strong><\/p>\n

When light in the form of different wavelengths hits an object, part of the light in a certain wavelength range is absorbed by it. The remaining radiation is reflected, and the object appears in the colour of the reflected light.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

There are also phenomena in the plant world that are based on nanotechnology. The large leaves of the lotus plant are famous for the fact that water simply rolls off them. Dust and dirt are carried away, so that the surface is cleaned without leaving any residue. The so-called “lotus effect” is also found in nature in other plants and animals, such as dragonflies and butterflies. Their surfaces are covered with fine nubs of wax crystals. When dirt particles and water are on the leaf, they rest on the tips of the nubs. Since the drop of water only rests on the elevations of the wax crystals, most of the drop surface is in the air. The repulsive effect of the air increases the surface tension in the drop, making it spherical. Due to the reduced surface area that the water drops touch on the plant leaf, it rolls off without problems and picks up dirt particles.<\/p>\n

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Definition<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Surface tension<\/strong><\/p>\n

Surface tension is the phenomenon that occurs in liquids because of molecular forces to keep their surface area as small as possible.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vibebp_attr":"","_vibebp_dimensions":"","_vibebp_responsive_height":"","_vibebp_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"module-tag":[],"class_list":["post-1206","unit","type-unit","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/unit\/1206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/unit"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/unit"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1206"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/unit\/1206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1223,"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/unit\/1206\/revisions\/1223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"module-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/module-tag?post=1206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}