Abstract
Water striders (Gerris remigis) have remarkable non-wetting legs that enable them to stand effortlessly and move quickly on water, a feature believed to be due to a surface-tension effect caused by secreted wax1,2,3. We show here, however, that it is the special hierarchical structure of the legs, which are covered by large numbers of oriented tiny hairs (microsetae) with fine nanogrooves, that is more important in inducing this water resistance.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 52 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.83 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Caponigro, M. A. & Erilsen, C. H. Am. Midland Nat. 95, 268–278 (1976).
Dickinson, M. Nature 424, 621–622 (2003).
Hu, D. L., Chan, B. & Bush, J. W. M. Nature 424, 663–666 (2003).
Tadanaga, K., Katata, N. & Minami, T. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 80, 1040–1042 (1997).
Holdgate, M. W. J. Exp. Biol. 32, 591–617 (1955).
Feng, L. et al. Adv. Mater. 14, 1857–1860 (2002).
Cassie, A. B. D. & Baxter, S. Trans. Farad. Soc. 40, 546–551 (1944).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gao, X., Jiang, L. Water-repellent legs of water striders. Nature 432, 36 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/432036a
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/432036a
