Relation of Wettability of Surfaces to Virus Survival Times

A newly identified coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, also known as COVID-19, has caused a worldwide respiratory illness pandemic. The virus is known to spread via contact with water droplets from an infected person. These drops can contaminate the surfaces we as humans interact with on a daily basis. It can be beneficial to understand if there is a correlation between how long the virus can survive on these surfaces and how easily wettable they are. The data was collected by placing 10 mL droplets onto various surface samples and collecting images of the surface contact. From the image a radius was determined and converted to a contact angle with the surface. This analysis was done across 24 different surfaces. The determined contact angles were then plotted against researched literature values for COVID-19 survival times on the surfaces. The final results failed to show a significant relationship between contact angle and virus survivability on the whole. However, amongst only the tested metals there appeared to be a relationship in that as contact angle increased across different surfaces, the time the virus could survive decreased