metal packing types can extend to wire packings of nichrome and inconel (akin to podbielniak columns), to stainless steel gauze (dixon rings), and indeed to any of the various special packing methods used in distillation (e.g., hempel, todd, and stedman packing methods); for instance, wire-packed columns of the podbielniak type function by providing large surface areas for vapor-liquid interaction with capillary-like spaces that very evenly spread the condensed liquid, such that "channeling and flooding" in the column "are minimized", and giving, in one specific example, added theoretical plate counts of 1–2 per 5 cm of packed length.