h a l f b a k e r y
Baker Street Irregulars
idea:
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, best, random
meta:
news, help, about, links, report a problem
account:
Browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
or Create a new account.
|
|
|
A capillary drinking straw could deliver the beverage to the lips without the time and energy-consuming suction that is needed in an ordinary straw to remove the air on each suck. Capillary action means the surface tension of the water does the work against gravity. A thinner straw entails less weight
to be lifted and its liquid is pulled higher by capillarity.
To lift a beverage through a 20 cm straw (about 8 inches) a 0.14 mm tube, the diameter of a thick human hair, is needed. To equal the area of a 5 mm diameter straw, some 1,333 tubes would be used. Packed together including the plastic walls, the tube arrangement would have a cross section of 1 cm^2 formed as a rectangle the size of three sticks of gum.
With reservation for the viscosity and particle size of drinks like a milk shake, the capillary strip straw would surely be a new advance in drinking pleasure.
Capillary arrays (middle of page)
http://www.us.schot...care/biotechnology/
[FarmerJohn, Feb 10 2005]
[link]
|
| |
How long does it take for the liquid to climb the straw? That could be a very slow gin fizz. |
|
| |
Could this also be used for drip irrigation? |
|
| |
I couldn't find an equation for the meniscal velocity, but one can compare with blood collection capillary tubes that fill in seconds. |
|
| |
A liquid will not drip out of the top of a capillary straw by itself. |
|
| |
Any industrial applications for this? Could it be adapted to
syphon fuel and such like? do smaller capillaries carry
fluids beyond the 20cm mark? These drinking straws would
be expensive. can they be cleaned and reused? |
|
| |
You could use it to irrigate any drip you like, but it would be quicker to just piss on them. |
|
| |
[GL] They seem to exist for tasks such as DNA testing (link). An aid to siphoning, yes. Tree capillaries transport liquids many meters. "Expense" is not in the HB dictionary. |
|
| |
Capillory. n. Device for punishing annoying gits who wear caps backwards. (Like Lleyton Hewitt) |
|
| |