Biomimicry – Inefficiency doesn’t last long in nature. As a result, human engineers and designers often look to Mother Nature for solutions to modern problems.
- lotus flower – dirty repelling surface – paint
- bumps on whale fins – reduce drag and increase lift – now being applied to wind turbines, cooling fans, airplane wings and propellers.
- underwater astonishments (video 5:21) – bio-luminescence, octopus, squid – color, texture change for protection, attraction
Bionics (also known as biomimetics) is the science about studying nature to create modern technology.
- Ninjabot strikes with force of a mantis shrimp – Imitating a mantis shrimp’s appendages is a complicated endeavor for many reasons, with the most obvious being the appendages’ extreme speed. Previous research has shown that the shrimp’s fast movement causes cavitation, which is the formation of bubbles due to a quick drop in pressure. When these bubbles move to areas of higher pressure, they quickly collapse to form shock waves that are so powerful that they can break open mollusk shells and erode holes in nearby metal, such as boat hulls. The heat produced by these shock waves equals the temperature at the surface of the sun (over 5000 K).
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- Biomimicry – good introduction
- Biomimetics – new science that studies nature’s models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems
engineering 4 kids 