Lotus Effect Essay

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Good afternoon, everybody. There is a famous sentence in a Chinese poem, “Ai Lian Shuo,” by Zhou Don-yi, “How spotless it rises from its muddy floor! How simple it stands on the clean pool!” Have you ever noticed that why the leaves of lotus always remain dry and clean even the lotus is growing in the mud? To explain this phenomenon, we need to understand what is “Lotus Effect”. Under an electron microscope, using the higher resolution that energetic electrons can provide, the surface of lotus leaves is found to be covered by tiny bumps of each about 5-10 μm (micrometers) high and 10-15 μm apart. This bumpy uneven surface is covered with waxy crystals, measuring around 1 nm in diameter. The waxy material on the surface of lotus leaves is hydrophobic. "Hydro" means water and "phobos" means fear in Greek. A material said to be hydrophobic if it does not like water. Because of this property, water molecules tend to cluster together to form a droplet. In this way, water molecules will stay close to each other and far away from the hydrophobic surface. With the ideas of hydrophobicity, water and dirt particles can hardly wet or spread out on the leaves. Thus, the water droplets are easy to roll off the surface and can take the dirt particles away easily even there just is a tiny movement of the leaves. It is resulting in the self-cleaning effect. Now, you should know the reason why the leaves of lotus always remain dry and clean even the lotus is growing in the mud. With the concept of Lotus Effect, scientists develop technologies that mimic Nature to improve our daily life. Here are some examples. Paints: Dirt can stick to regular paint, so microorganisms grow there, it easily leading to many health problems. Using the Lotusan paint, dirt can be washed off the wall by simply spraying water on to it, decreasing the risk of causing health problems.

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