American Chemical Society's weekly PressPac -- Marc...( Here is the latest American Chemical...)

Here is the latest American Chemical Society (ACS) Weekly PressPac from the Office of Public Affairs. It has news from ACS' 34 peer-reviewed journals and Chemical & Engineering News. Please credit the individual journal or the American Chemical Society as the source for this information.

PressPac Archive: http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=223&content_id=CTP_006742&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1

ARTICLE #1

New super-bouyant material: Life preserver might float a horse
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

Here's a story that might float your boat: Researchers in China are reporting the development of miniature super-bouyant boats that float so well that an ordinary life preserver made from the same material might support a horse without sinking. The advance, they say, might be difficult to apply to full-size craft. However, it could lead to a new generation of aquatic robots for spy missions and other futuristic devices, the scientists add. Their study is reported in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, a monthly journal.

In the new study, Qinmin Pan and Min Wang note that researchers have studied the chemistry of surfaces for years in an effort to design novel drag-reducing and fast-moving aquatic and air devices, such as boats and planes. Scientists have often turned to nature for inspiration. One source: The water strider, whose highly water-repellant (superhydrophobic) legs allow this insect to literally scoot across water surfaces at high speeds. But researchers still have not found a practical way to apply this phenomenon to technology.

Pan and Wang made several miniature boats about the size of a postage stamp. They used copper mesh treated with sil
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