Characteristics of water strider legs in hydrodynamic situations.
This study investigated the forces and the cross-section images of a water strider's leg through experimental observations. In the vertical direction, the spring coefficients were found to be 0.6 N/m for the leg and 0.3 N/m for the water, which provide a water-treading stiffness of 0.2 N/m. In the horizontal directions, besides the alignment of the microsetae, the large cuticle forces were also related to the resistant side in a Wenzel state.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Nanotechnology and Microsystems Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan.
Pal Jen
PJ
Wei
Yan Xing
YX
Shen
Jen Fin
JF
Lin
D000818:Animals; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D007313:Insecta / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning