Friction may seem trivial when you are for example rubbing your head on the carpet but understanding how the molecules interact during friction just recently described. Friction seems to be comparable when working with fluids. For example if you have two viscous oils that are flowing along each other this movement will transform into heat. This energy is usually wasted in the process so making fluids that have less friction is always sought after. Likely, the French researchers in this article were rubbing their head on the carpet when they thought of this article. Potentially, some marbles were placed between their head and the carpet to make less friction. In our analogy if you replace marbles with say superhydrophobic beads you may be able to reduce the friction involved in this.
'Two liquids in contact cannot usually slide by each other at all, because their molecules are in intimate contact. But in Physical Review Letters, a French team suggests that this motion can be lubricated by placing tiny beads at the liquids’ interface, to act as ball bearings. If the concept can be achieved in experiments, it could provide new flexibility in manipulating fluid flow.
In recent years, researchers have created “superhydrophobic” surfaces that use arrays of tiny raised pillars to allow water to flow with very low friction. First, the surface of each pillar is hydrophobic, like wax, so water “beads up” on it. But in addition, the collection of pillars is much more hydrophobic than a flat hydrophobic surface would be, because the liquid bridges across the tops of the closely-spaced pillars and slides as if on an air cushion.... The fluids would remain separated because the spheres would be hydrophobic, and surface tension would maintain an air gap in the regions between the spheres.'
Direct link:
http://physics.aps.org/articles/v6/28
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