Slippery Bodies

Prof Chan believes he has enough of a handle on the Leidenfrost Effect to put it in use on practical applications.

Anyone using ball bearings will tell you that the lesser the friction the greater the efficiency. In the case of ship's friction turns into drag as the vessel moves in the water, greater drag means greater fuel consumption and so on. But this is where the Leidenfrost Effect may come to help as recently researched by Prof. Chan of Melbourne University. The Leidenfrost Effect explains the behaviour of liquids when they come into contact with a surface which is hotter than their boiling point; the liquid in contact with the surface becomes a vapour cushion keeping the rest of the liquid away from the surface. Prof. Chan believes he has enough of a handle on the Leidenfrost Effect to allow him to investigate its potential in practical applications, such as shipping.

How to keep a ship's hull at boiling point and what effect this may have on the environment is another story.

The research is laid out in a paper by Chan and his colleagues, published in the journal Physical Review Letters.