Surface tension biomimetics need to have a transplant or repair performed. Microvelia exploit surface tension by creating a surface tension gradient that propels them forward by releasing a surfactant behind them through a tongue-like protrusion. Biomimetic engineering was used in a creative and fun way to make and edible cocktail boat that mimicked the ability of microvelia to propel themselves on the surface of water by means of a phenomenon called the marangoni effect. Burton and her colleagues used 3D printing to make small plastic boats that released different types of alcohol behind the boat to lower the surface tension and create a
Surface tension a water droplet increases with decreasing radius. For not very small drops the effect is subtle, but the pressure difference becomes enormous when the drop sizes approach the molecular size. (In the limit of a single molecule the concept becomes meaningless.) When an object is placed on a liquid, its weight depresses the surface, and if surface tension and downward force becomes equal than is balanced by the surface tension forces on either side , which are each parallel to the water's surface at the points where it contacts the object. Notice that small movement in the body may cause