{"id":54941,"date":"2016-11-11T06:47:56","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T06:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/splash-free-urinals-scientists-investigate-new-splash-avoidance-technique\/"},"modified":"2016-11-11T06:47:56","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T06:47:56","slug":"splash-free-urinals-scientists-investigate-new-splash-avoidance-technique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/splash-free-urinals-scientists-investigate-new-splash-avoidance-technique\/","title":{"rendered":"Splash-free urinals? Scientists investigate new \u2018splash avoidance\u2019 technique"},"content":{"rendered":"

The research that definitely isn\u2019t making a splash<\/strong><\/p>\n

When a drop of liquid hits a surface at a sufficiently high speed, it splashes \u2014 that much isn\u2019t in doubt. But sometimes splashing isn\u2019t helpful. Researchers are working on methods of \u2018splash avoidance\u2019 that could prevent splashback of harmful or unhygienic fluids in a range of settings, from hospitals to kitchens \u2013 and perhaps even urinals.<\/p>\n

In a new paper led by scientists at the University of Oxford and published in the journal Physical Review Letters<\/em>, researchers show that coating a surface in a thin layer of a soft material like a gel or rubber could provide a simple solution to this problem.<\/p>\n

Lead researcher Professor Alfonso Castrej\u00f3n-Pita, Royal Society University Research Fellow in Oxford\u2019s Department of Engineering Science, said: \u2018We realised that no one had actually studied systematically what happens when droplets hit soft substrates. In our study, we dropped ethanol droplets on to soft materials made of silicone \u2014 the material often used in bathroom sealants. Silicone is very useful, as it can be made to have different levels of stiffness, ranging from a material comparable to jelly to something with a consistency more like that of a pencil rubber. <\/p>\n

\u2018We filmed the impacts with a high-speed camera at speeds of up to 100,000 frames per second \u2014 around 4,000 times faster than a typical mobile phone \u2014 and then studied the splashing dynamics. Combining these experiments with some theoretical modelling and detailed computer simulations, we found that tiny deformations of the substrate occur within the first 30 microseconds after impact, which, surprisingly, can be just enough to completely suppress splashing.<\/p>\n

\u2018What is most surprising is that you need about 70% more energy to get a drop to splash off these soft materials when compared with hard materials. If you think of a drop falling from a certain height, we need double the height to make it splash in the softest surfaces.\u2019<\/p>\n

There has been little work carried out into splash avoidance. It has been demonstrated that droplets in a vacuum don\u2019t splash, and droplets hitting a thin, elastic membrane are much less likely to splash. Moving the substrate at high speeds may suppress splash on one side of the drop but enhance splash on the other side. No one as yet has looked at how simple coatings could provide all-round splash protection.<\/p>\n

Professor Castr\u00e9jon-Pita said: \u2018We believe soft surfaces with the correct stiffness could be used in a number of situations in which \u201cdangerous\u201d or \u201cnasty\u201d fluids are used. It\u2019s surprisingly easy to for droplets to turn into aerosols or sprays when they splash: a drop of a typical solvent such as ethanol or methanol will splash if dropped from a height of around 20cm and will generate droplets of that material that can be carried away by air. So if you\u2019re working with dangerous chemicals or biomaterials, it would be helpful to know that you won\u2019t be generating sprays or aerosols if some drops fall, exposing you to diseases or harmful materials. This is also the case with the use of instrument trays during surgery \u2013 this technique could prevent the splashing of bodily fluids.<\/p>\n

\u2018As for hygiene, the transmission of campylobacter or other food poisoning agents in a typical kitchen is one example. In the UK, there is a big campaign to stop people from washing raw chicken before cooking because of splashing. A surface capable of stopping accidentally spilled drops of raw chicken fluids may be useful. And the development of a splash-free urinal would also be welcome!\u2019<\/p>\n

Professor Castr\u00e9jon-Pita added: \u2018There\u2019s certainly more work to be done in this area. The softer you make a material, the stickier and weaker it often becomes \u2014 two things which aren\u2019t ideal for making useful, long-term coatings. The main challenge of this work is how to overcome that. Luckily, recent work has started to develop new materials that can be soft, strong and non-sticky \u2014 like tough hydrogels \u2014 so there are certainly a lot of approaches to be explored.\u2019<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The research that definitely isn\u2019t making a splash When a drop of liquid hits a surface at a sufficiently high speed, it splashes \u2014 that much isn\u2019t in doubt. But sometimes splashing isn\u2019t helpful. Researchers are working on methods of \u2018splash avoidance\u2019 that could prevent splashback of harmful or unhygienic fluids in a range of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54941\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}