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I was wondering what makes wet shower curtains so sticky? I suppose the
answer is that water adheres to both plastic and porcelain. But what seems
curious to me is that the curtain continues to stick after the water
evaporates, and yet I cannot get a dry shower curtain to adhere to the tub
when I press it on. This suggests that plastic doesn't adhere directly to
porcelain, but that even after all the evident water evaporates something
has happened to the surface bonds of the plastic and porcelain.
Two possibilities come to mind: Maybe there's a thin monolayer of water
still left after the bulk evaporates (since water adheres so well) and
that's like a thin glue between the curtain and tub. The counter to this is
that even a "dry" curtain should then have about a monolayer of water left
on it, so why shouldn't a "dry" curtain adhere to a tub when I rub my finger
nail over it like I might do with a piece of scotch tape?
The other possibility has to do with how the dangling surface bonds get
passivated as the water between the curtain and tub evaporates, but I'm
starting to get out of my league here.
Curious mind invites comments (CMIC), Carl
-----
Carl E. Mungan, Asst. Prof. of Physics 410-293-6680 (O) -3729 (F)
U.S. Naval Academy, Stop 9C, Annapolis, MD 21402-5026
mailto:mungan@usna.edu http://usna.edu/Users/physics/mungan/