Problem:
In very wet places there is so much water on the ground that we could be using to drink instead of letting it dry out.
Biomimicry Idea:
Mimic a spider’s spider silk that collects water on its web. What if we could make a shoe that collected the water instead of getting your feet wet! Spider webs have a sticky substance on them. When it rains the water sticks to the web but doesn’t go through it . We could put a spider web like object in a shoe that collects the water and then sends it into a backpack with a storage chamber. One way we could do this is using small tubes that run from the shoes to a water bottle back pack. Water cohesion and adhesion to the tube walls will push the water upward through the tubes. You can drink water as you hike!
How does a spider web help a spider collect water?
Spiders use a substance called spiral silk which they use to trap the bugs that fly by, but this spiral silk doesn’t just catch bugs it also catches water. That is one way you could collect the water without getting wet.
