Water flows like molasses on the...( ng the vertical force exerted on the ti...),Health

ng the vertical force exerted on the tip by the confined water film, they also measured the film viscosity by measuring the lateral force. They found that when water was placed on a hydrophilic surface, the viscosity began to increase dramatically as the thickness of the confined film reached the 1.5 nanometer range. As they continued to compress the water and measure the lateral forces, the viscosity increased by a factor of 1,000 to 10,000.

On hydrophobic surfaces, they did not see such an increase in viscosity. The results of the molecular dynamics simulations support these findings, showing a dramatically decreased mobility for sub-nanometer thick water films under hydrophilic confinement.

"Water is a wonderful lubricant," said Riedo, "but it flows too easily for many applications. At the one nanometer scale, water is a viscous fluid and could be a much better lubricant."

Understanding the properties of water at this scale could also be important for biological and pharmaceutical research, especially in understanding processes that depend on hydrated ionic transport through nanoscale channels and pores.

Riedo and Landman's next steps are to introduce impurities in the water to study how that affects its properties.

'"/>

Contact: David Terraso
d.terraso@gatech.edu
404-385-2966
Georgia Institute of Technology
25-Apr-2007

Page: 1 2 3
Related medicine news :

1. Waterborne infectious diseases could soon be consigned to history, says expert
2. Water fluoridation still a cost-effective preventive measure
3. Water fluoridation in New South Wales
4. World Water Day: Space tool aids fight for clean drinking water
5. Water channel protein implicated in relative of multiple sclerosis
6. Public meeting Jan. 4 on research priorities on EHS aspects of engineered nanoscale materials