Self‐Sharpening Mechanism of the Sea Urchin Tooth
@article{Killian2011SelfSharpeningMO, title={Self‐Sharpening Mechanism of the Sea Urchin Tooth}, author={Christopher E. Killian and Rebecca A. Metzler and Yutao Gong and Tyler H. Churchill and Ian C. Olson and Vasily Trubetskoy and Matthew B. Christensen and John H. Fournelle and Francesco De Carlo and Sidney R. Cohen and Julia Mahamid and Andreas Scholl and Anthony T. Young and Andrew Doran and Fred H. Wilt and Susan N. Coppersmith and Pupa U.P.A. Gilbert}, journal={Advanced Functional Materials}, year={2011}, volume={21} }
The sea urchin tooth is a mosaic of calcite crystals shaped precisely into plates and fibers, cemented together by a robust calcitic polycrystalline matrix. The tooth is formed continuously at one end, while it grinds and wears at the opposite end, the sharp tip. Remarkably, these teeth enable the sea urchin to scrape and bore holes into rock, yet the teeth remain sharp rather than dull with use. Here we describe the detailed structure of the tooth of the California purple sea urchin…
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