Surface Tension Transport of Prey by Feeding Shorebirds: The Capillary Ratchet
Adaption in order to get food
Future
Analogous mechanisms for transport in microfluidic systems are currently being explored
- PCR
- Micro array
- Proteomics
- BIO-Smoke Alarm
The closest to dinosaurs we have to day is actual the birds
http://video.sciencemag.org/VideoLab/54350018001/1/ecology
From the beak tip to the apex.
The mechanic beak had a minimum of three cycles similar to the red-necked phalarope but Wilson's phalaropes are less efficient and need seven to eight cycles.This observation may yield a insight into the birds degree of adaptation.
SO
HOW IS IT GETTING ITS PREY DOWN THE THROAT?
Surface tension transport relies explicitly on the bird opening and closing its beak and so varying the beak opening angle
With water it is different
Experiment with Silicone Oil
In our system, water droplets on stainless steel beaks have an advancing angle θa ∼ 65° and receding angle θr ∼ 20° that are comparable to those of water droplets on keratin
experimental study
Orange oil moves spontaneously between two non parallel glass
- a1 = 1.9° (blue triangles)
- a2 = 2.8° (red circles)
- a3 = 4.2° (green squares)
Hauksbee
The capillary Ratchet
surface tension physics
Mechanic Bird beak
Forces to get the food down
Stage 1
bird beak model
First the bird will swim in circles creating a vortex that draws underlying fluid and suspended prey toward the surface.
! Fun fact
They can actualy get the water surface to get to 1.5 Hz.
The bird didn't lift its head to swallow
GRAVITY?!
In favor:
- Surface tension
- Rotary motion in one direction
The continuing motion of the droplet is resisted by contact-angle from prehistoric contact on the surface