Dripless teapots: here's my handle, here's my superhydrophobic spout

[steven johnson]

For the solution to tea stains from teapot dribble, the solution is applied physics.

For those who hate tea stains on their pristine linen tablecloth, succour is at hand: scientists in France have solved the perennial puzzle of the dribbling teapot. Fluids experts at the University of Lyon have produced a four-page report that claims to offer a solution, and as often can be the case with long-unresolved problems, it is a simple one.

"Surface wettability is an unexpected key factor in controlling flow separation and dripping, the latter being completely suppressed in the limit of superhydrophobic substrates,"...

This scientific jargon boils down to the fact that tea tends to stick to the inside of the spout as it is poured. The flow of tea then begins to stop-start, causing a dribble effect. The team, led by Cyril Duez, say the use of "superhydrophobic surfaces" – essentially water-repelling linings – on the inside of the spout can avoid dripping and "thus beat the 'teapot effect'".

The scientists are not the first to bend their minds towards the problem. This year the retailer Debenhams claimed to have designed a dribble-free teapot with a "multi-faceted solution" that involved a larger spout, "tea bag baffle" and redesigned lid. As far back as 1998 the British inventor Damini Kumar was hawking her solution – the D-pot – around the BBC and other media groups. Her solution was a groove under the spout.

Dripless teapots: here's my handle, here's my superhydrophobic spout

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. their next task. How to have teabaggers keep from dribbling inside their

undies.

[Warpy]

2. People still use tablecloths?

Damn, the things you learn at DU.

My teapot sits on the brown mat on the kitchen counter. If it drips, it drips.

[theHandpuppet]

3. Actually, some of us do still use tablecloths

And dresser scarves and all manner of old-fashioned niceties. I can't wait to buy a dripless pot! :-)