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)
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ISBN:9781305116399
Author:Raymond A. Serway, John W. Jewett
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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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