American researchers have developed a new method to prevent the accumulation of ice on airplanes inspired by an unusual source - the poison dart frog.
By: Rinat Barko Philosopher
Ice can cause a lot of damage. It accumulates in the winter on car windshields, airplane wings, and it can cause pedestrians to slip and fall on the road. Ice formation can cause power outages, and disrupt gas and oil production. Also, baldness can cause a decrease in the level of efficiency of wind turbines that produce energy.
A team of scientists from Arizona State University (ASU) has developed a new method to prevent ice from accumulating on surfaces such as airplane wings. They found inspiration in an unusual source: the poison dart frog.
In industry, antifreeze technologies are supposed to prevent, or slow the build-up of all forms of ice. The most common approach to preventing baldness today is the use of chemical substances, which lower the freezing point of water. In the aviation industry, the currently accepted way to prevent ice formation is to spray a large amount of glycol-based material on top of the plane before takeoff, but this liquid is expensive, especially if it is used in large quantities, especially during periods of high demand, such as winter storms. Excessive use of antifreeze can also have negative environmental consequences. When the material reaches water sources it may pollute them.
These issues motivated the search for an alternative, various paths were examined to prevent ice accumulation or, at least, to facilitate its removal by weakening its adhesion to the surface. ASU researchers took a hybrid approach. The main researcher, Konrad Rykaczewski, was inspired when he traveled in Panama, where he learned about the effective self-defense mechanism of the poison dart frog. When the frog is attacked, it secretes poison through the skin to deter predators. The frog stores the poison in an inner layer under its outer skin, and only releases it when it feels threatened. Konrad and his team imitated the two-layered structure of the frog's skin, where the upper layer is super-hydrophobic (water-repellent), and its function is to prevent the rain from freezing and forming ice on the surface. But when ice begins to form on the upper layer due to frost or due to condensation of water vapor from the (cold) air, the lower layer comes into action, and antifreeze liquid flows to the upper layer through the pore and causes the ice to melt.
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It is clear to me that they are not going to open a frog farm or milk frogs in the jungle.
And it is clear that they will synthesize this substance in organic synthesis or produce it in biotechnology.
But it is not clear to me why this substance, which is obviously more chemically complex than glycol,
After it is synthesized, there is no reason in the world for it to be cheaper than such a simple substance as glycol.
Father, the scientists will not imitate the material, but the structure.
"The main researcher, Konrad Rykaczewski, was inspired when he traveled in Panama, where he learned about the effective self-defense mechanism of the poison dart frog. When the frog is attacked, it secretes poison through the skin to deter predators. The frog stores the poison in an inner layer under its outer skin, and only releases it when it feels threatened. Konrad and his team imitated the two-layered structure of the frog's skin, where the upper layer is super-hydrophobic (water-repellent), and its function is to prevent the rain from freezing and forming ice on the surface. But when ice begins to form on the upper layer due to frost or due to condensation of water vapor from the (cold) air, the lower layer comes into action, and antifreeze liquid flows to the upper layer through the pore and causes the ice to melt."
And this material from the skin of a frog will be cheaper than ethylene glycol?