Now For The Real Spider-Man Suit

Scientists have found the formula for a Spider-Man suit that will enable humans to scale buildings like insects - in the same way as the cartoon superhero.They have come up with a scheme for superadhesive gloves and boots that could soon see humans scaling the Empire State Building.The designs for the materials are modelled from the adhesive properties of the gecko, a tropical lizard whose sticky feet can scale trees, using tiny tubes of carbon that have unusual electrical and mechanical properties.It means the skin tight outfits donned by actor Tobey Maguire that allows his character Peter Parker to climb skyscrapers and swing between them in the blockbuster films could become reality.The super surface gripping materials replicate the millions of tiny elastic hairs on the feet of lizards which allow them to cling on to an apparently flat surface with just one toe.Now engineer Dr Nicola Pugno, of the Polytechnic University of Turin, suggests the secret lies in creating a series of hair like structure or nanotubes which would act like a microscopic velcro.His research published in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, says that when the 'hairs' on a gecko's feet brush against a surface, the molecules at the tip stick to the surface through van der Waals forces, a bond that forms between two molecules when they are close to each other.Although the bond between each hair and the surface is weak, it becomes strong when multiplied over millions of hairs.Prof Pugno says his research shows that shoes and boots made using this technique could have the adhesive force strong enough to suspend a person's full body weight against a wall or on a ceiling, while also being easy to detach. He said: "There are many interesting applications for our theory, from space exploration and defence, to designing gloves and shoes for window cleaners of big skyscrapers."The theory is all the more significant because, as with spiders’ and geckos’ feet, the 'hairs' are self cleaning and water resistant.This means they will not wear or get clogged by bad weather or dirty surfaces and will be able to withstand some of the harshest habitats on earth, including the deep sea. Prof Pugno said: "With the idea for the adhesion now in place, there are a number of other mechanics that need addressing before the Spiderman suit can become a reality."Size effects on the adhesion strength require further research. Moreover man's muscles, for example, are different to those of a gecko. We would suffer great muscle fatigue if we tried to stick to a wall for many hours."But now that we are this step closer, it may not be long before we are seeing people climbing up the Empire State Building with nothing but sticky shoes and gloves to support them."He added: "A replication of the characteristics of the gecko or spider feet would enable the development of a self-cleaning, superadhesive and releasable hierarchical material and, with the conjunction of large invisible cables, of a preliminary Spider-Man suit."Scientists have long studied the gravity-defying gecko for potential applications in the human world. US researchers, for example, have built an array of microfibres inspired by the gecko's feet that can keep objects from sliding down near vertical surfaces