Researchers have developed a system for 3D printing Marangoni Surfers to investigate the Cheerios Effect.
That might not be entirely clear, so let me explain what’s going on here.
It’s all about surface tension on a fluid. As you know, surface tension can allow a solid (but lightweight) solid object to remain on the surface of the fluid.
It’s also possible to alter the surface tension effect by distributing a secondary fluid. These differences, if managed properly, can actually propel the solid object along the surface of the fluid, like a tiny vehicle. These are called “Marangoni Surfers”.
The researchers investigated the possibility of designing different structures of Marangoni Surfers to see if it was possible to control the movements in a more precise manner.
These were 3D printed and used in a series of experiments through which methods of controlling the motion of these tiny vehicles were learned.
But what about that “Cheerios Effect”? Apparently, this is a real thing. It refers to the tendency of objects held up by surface tension to collect in place. Yes, it is literally named after the breakfast cereal, where I am sure you have seen the effect yourself: those Cheerios do cluster together, all due to surface tension.
The problem here is that if you’re designing a Marangoni Surfer with more precise motion control, you will have to deal with the Cheerios Effect: the motion of the surfers will be affected. The researchers investigated the effect to understand how to design surfers that were less susceptible and had more reliably trajectories by leveraging both the Marangoni and Cheerios effects together.
I’m constantly amazed by the applications developed using 3D printing. This investigation would not have been possible without the technology. Perhaps Marangoni Surfers will become a more useful laboratory tool.
Via ArXiv
