Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/05/27/how-a-geckos-feet-grip-walls.html
…
3 Likes
13 Likes
At some point I learned that one can buy tape based on gecko feet. It’s rather thick, largely reusable, leaves no residue, very strong against sideways forces but possible to remove by pulling directly off. Not for every use case but fun to have around.
9 Likes
Seems like that would be useful for some very specific crime
4 Likes
7 Likes
Wow, that’s such a neat video. My favorite thing about geckos (at least the ones in Hawaii) is that at night they chirp.
I’ve photographed a lot of them. Captured this little guy on our balcony a couple years ago -
5 Likes
i’ve got two spatula in my kitchen drawer, and neither of them helps me climb walls. or, at least… i think they don’t 
brb
6 Likes
4 Likes
3 Likes
5 Likes
4 Likes
Well, I guess, that explains your hang-ups.
2 Likes
The way they do this is through microscopic toe pads called spatulae, which branch out into millions of sections. The electrons on those pads sync with the electrons on the surface that the gecko is climbing, allowing the gecko to “stick” to the surface.
To be pedantic, the hairy pads on their feet are called setae. The spatula is the term for the rounded tip of each nano-hair.
The ‘syncing up’ of the electrons is the van der Waals force which is described as a dual induced dipole interaction of the electron orbitals of nearly-touching molecules. It’s the weakest form of molecular interaction, but also universal: even noble gases that don’t form chemical bonds at all still have van der Waals attraction, which allows them to still condense into liquid and solid phases at low temperatures.
Scientists have known for a long time how the van der Waals forces in the gecko setae worked to allow the gecko to stay attached to pretty much any surface (except teflon, it’s van der Waals attraction is particularly low). What took them a lot longer to figure out was how it was able to let go: if you have such a universal attractive force and it’s strong enough to allow the gecko to hang from one toe, how do you release it then? It turns out that the gecko uses a rolling motion to release each toe: this allows a much smaller steady application of force to release the toe instead of trying to pull the entire thing off at once, similar to peeling a sticker off of a hard surface.
8 Likes
“Climbing up walls using specialty evolved pads on one’s hands and feet… is good.”
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
