When driving in the rain, it’s preferable that the raindrops roll or bounce off of the windshield instead of coating it or even freezing. A team of engineers at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis found that conduction of heat plays a larger role than previously thought in the dynamics of droplets on smooth surfaces that repel water.
Patricia Weisensee, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, and Junhui Li, a doctoral student in her lab, made the finding after using high-speed imaging methods to study a microscopic entrapped bubble that forms when droplets of water hit a heated, smooth, water-repellent surface. Results of the research are published in the Jan. 1 print issue of the journal Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science.
Read more on the engineering website.
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