#30 -La scienza e la tecnica della cosa

Have you ever wondered about the ''Teapot effect''?

When searching for a possible relation between teapots and science, I found an interesting paper dealing with the problem of dribbling teapots. In fact, everyone has experienced the annoying overflowing from the pot spout especially when the tea is poured slowly. Therefore I summarized the main points of this article and I also attached the link to download the full paper.
For centuries scientists have struggled to explain the ''teapot phenomenon''.Some suggested internal vortices in the fluid, others opted for atmospheric pressure as the main factor while other explanations based on the momentum of the fluid tried to find the perfect speed of the flow to avoid the dribbling.
A team of fluid dynamics scientists, C. Duez, C. Ybert, C. Clanet, and L. Bocquet, from the University of Lyon in France have addressed this issue by explaining the main factor of overflowing: a "hydro-capillary" effect that sticks the liquid to the solid surface as it is poured from the spout. The experts emphasised that to avoid this problem one way is to design the lip of the spout very sharp and coat the lip with superphobic materials to repel water from the spout. I reported below some pictures to explain the experiment :

In (a) when water leaves the spout of an (hydrophilic) teapot, the streamline bends and causes the dribbling , and this is worst at a slower flow rate(a').However, when using a superhydrophobic coating the streamline is straight and the dribbling problem is avoided at different flow rates b and b' .

link1:''Beating the teapot effect'',Cyril Duezy, Christophe Yberty, Christophe Clanetz, Lyderic Bocquety ,Universite de Lyon ,2009

link2:The source of the picture

#21 - La cosa nella Musica

   The teapot in Music

When  looking for   teapots in the musical world, I found that they were mainly the subject of popular nursery rhymes  and traditional poems for children  dating back to the nineteenth century. I have chosen  '' I am little teapot'' and '' Polly put the kettle on''

                                    

                                    '' I'm a little teapot''

''Polly put the kettle on''

                                             

link1:I'm little teapot'',Song and Lyrics
link2:Gus Williams ''Popular songs'', teapots
link3:Polly put the kettle on
link4''Polly put the kettle on '' Lyrics

#23 - La cosa nella Letteratura

                            The shadow of a  Spout

The Author: Amanda Cooper

Edition: Penguin, 2015

Number of pages: 304 

''Rose Fremont should have been listening to the speech, but instead she was examining her treasure. It was homely thing, the metal teapot, battered and beaten like a raggedy man who has been buffeted about by the elements and fallen on hand times. But like that raggedy man, it had a paste, a purpose and meaning. She turned it over and over in her hands, examining the patina, caressing the dent on its round belly and hugging it to her. There was something about the size of it and the intricacy of the decoration that hinted at a noble history.'' Passage taken from Chapter 1.

''I bought it from an antiques dealer in Ithica. He thought it was chinese, but my granddaughter doesn't believe it was not a teapot at all,but a Buddhist holy water vessel''.

 Rose had decided that she would have a teapot ''expert'' evaluate it but now she thought she might not know anything more when Zunia was done than she had begun.

''One thing I do know is, it is old-silver or copper, we think.''

Zunia turned it over and over squinted over at Rose, then picked up her jewelers  loupe, examining the bottom closely. She then made a noise between the teeth.''Hah! Not an antique at all. The hallmarks are fake even the patina is fake. It is a cheap repro made in Hong Kong''. Passage taken from chapter 1

Link1:The book