The foot of your average gecko is covered with billions of tinyhair tips—called spatulae—that are made of keratin, the proteinfound in human hair. A subtle shift of the electron distribution inboth the spatulae and the wall to which a gecko clings producesan adhesive force by means of the van der Waals interaction between molecules. Suppose a gecko uses its spatulae to cling to a vertical windowpane. If you were to describe this situation in terms ofa coefficient of static friction, ms, what value would you assign toms? Is this a sensible way to model the gecko’s feat? Explain.
The foot of your average gecko is covered with billions of tinyhair tips—called spatulae—that are made of keratin, the proteinfound in human hair. A subtle shift of the electron distribution inboth the spatulae and the wall to which a gecko clings producesan adhesive force by means of the van der Waals interaction between molecules. Suppose a gecko uses its spatulae to cling to a vertical windowpane. If you were to describe this situation in terms ofa coefficient of static friction, ms, what value would you assign toms? Is this a sensible way to model the gecko’s feat? Explain.
Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Technology Update (No access codes included)
9th Edition
ISBN:9781305116399
Author:Raymond A. Serway, John W. Jewett
Publisher:Raymond A. Serway, John W. Jewett
Chapter23: Electric Fields
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 23.2P: (a) Calculate the number of electrons in a small, electrically neutral silver pin that has a mass of...
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The foot of your average gecko is covered with billions of tiny
hair tips—called spatulae—that are made of keratin, the protein
found in human hair. A subtle shift of the electron distribution in
both the spatulae and the wall to which a gecko clings produces
an adhesive force by means of the van der Waals interaction between molecules. Suppose a gecko uses its spatulae to cling to a vertical windowpane. If you were to describe this situation in terms of
a coefficient of static friction, ms, what value would you assign to
ms? Is this a sensible way to model the gecko’s feat? Explain.
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