Morning Dew - Tuesday Science Question

[stephen davis]

There was dew on the lawn this morning. It is hard to see in this iPhone photo, but the dew seems to be in the form of water droplets, and only at the very ends of the grass shafts, not an overall coating.



Why would a drop form there? Why not further down toward the root? Why a drop at all? Where does gravity figure in to this?

Okay, Observers, it's been observed. Now, what does it mean?

It's time for the Science majors to help the Art majors.

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[Stan Austin]

All I know is a plumber once told me "Water flows downhill, the Lake is to the North, and payday is on Friday."

That's all ya gotta know

[stephen davis]

All I know is a plumber once told me "Water flows downhill, the Lake is to the North, and payday is on Friday."

That's all ya gotta know

Stan,

Thanks, but I already have an answer in a link sent to me by a designer. So much for Science majors jumping in to help.

The New York Times ran an article about a study on this very topic.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/scien ... .html?_r=0

Keen observers may have noticed that dewdrops form on the tips of grass blades. This appears to be in defiance of gravity: Shouldn’t the drops fall toward the bottom?

Observers!

The study, by scientist Martin E. R. Shanahan, suggests that the shape of grass (Conelike. Thicker at the bottom, and more pointy at the top.) causes the moisture to move to the tip.

...he found that the dewdrop is able to lower its energy state by moving to the pointy tip of the leaf.

“Conventionally, we think it should move to the bottom, with gravity,” said Thomas Thundat, a nanoscale scientist at the University of Alberta, who was not connected to the study.

In this case, the force that pulls the water toward the smaller radius at the apex of the grass blade, known as the capillary effect, is “stronger than the force of gravity,” Dr. Thundat said.

Now we know that water can flow uphill in defiance of gravity, Lake Erie is to the West of France (Where the study was done.), and I get paid on Tuesday. "All ya gotta know" is wrong. Heck with science. I'm sticking with art. It's more predictable and rational.

Steve

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[russell dunn]

Same theory explains the use of certain fur ruffs on extreme cold parka hoods. The
natural taper of the fur continually sheds the frozen moisture from exhaled breath.

[Peter Grossetti]

The things I learn here on The Deck!!!