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Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything
- ryanwaggoner 16y agoThis seems like the kind of report they'd show as a flashback in a post-apocalyptic film :)
- bergie 16y agoAsbestos was also a great idea once :-)
- KaeseEs 16y agoIt still is, so long as it's sequestered such that the fibers don't become airborne. Asbestos removal projects done in eg. municipal buildings are often misguided.
- billswift 16y agoTry "usually misguided". Several reports have come out that airborne asbestos is usually worse after asbestos removal than before. Going over it with a sprayed on sealer would be safer and more effective.
- sophacles 16y agoI'm going to start a pool. Buy in is $200 equivalent[1] per square. The board will be a 3 dimensional matrix, whose axis are: 1. The amount of time from now the collapse occurs. (most likely a logrithmic scale) 2. How far civilization falls, e.g. "back to the 19th century" or "back to the stone age"[2]. 3. How "wierd" this makes the world, e.g. are there 40 degree temperature shifts in the afternoon in San Diego and warm beaches in Antarctica. Are there now hyper-intelligent wasps running the show. Do we discuss the "fragility of the fabric of space-time" much more frequently.. and so on.[3] Finally, every "square" is actually in a state of superposition, based on the answer to the question "are there zombies[4] now" at the time of selection. Therefore if you are sure 10 days from now, early 16th century avg tech, wierd factor of .09, put in $400 worth of goods to catch the both zombies outcomes. Winners will be chosen at the END of the collapse, before the rebuilding period. The winners will be given the location and secret combination to enter the cache. Transport and armed escort will not be provied by me or any other participant of this pool, (except by other arrangement out of scope of the pool) nor will any other form of survivability enhancement until reaching the cache. [1] Entry fee must be in the form of non-perishable food, ammo, guns and other items traditionally considered valuable post-apocalypse [2] Avg tech level does not include the fact that various warlords, mad scientists, intelligent creatures and other bad guys will have access to various tech remnants and caches... This is strictly about the level of technology and civilization available to the average person. [3] Weirdness factor algorithm tbd, but it will be normalized on a 0-1 scale, with the current state of the US being .27. [4] Zombies here includes both new and old style zombies, some forms of mutant, possibly mind-control victims, and certain types of insectoid horde. All other types of undead, mutants and creatures, as well as those with supernatural powers are actually just manifestations of the wierd factor (see [3]).
- pavel_lishin 16y ago> This is strictly about the level of technology and civilization available to the average person. So, um. How would you define this now, given that right now I have three computers within easy reach, a big-screen television and a game console in a heated apartment with lights and a gas stove - while somewhere across the world, someone is hoping they find enough water to drink so they can finish building their mud-hut before the wolves come? Bonus points for pointing out that while my girlfriend is playing a post-apocalyptic video game, someone is probably doing almost exactly what she's doing, except with a real gun against real people?
- Groxx 16y agoIn my mind, especially because of this: >[Neil McClelland] said soon almost every product you purchase will be coated with liquid glass. Because such things are probably good for you, right?
- lwat 16y agoSilica is one of the most abundant oxides in the earths crust. Our bodies have no problem dealing with it.
- Groxx 16y agoIn larger-scale chunks (ie, dust). There have been a lot of questions how nano-scale particles react in our bodies, some of them apparently very differently, and not very much science because the creation of them in relatively large quantities is such a new development. So yes, lets add new things to food without the testing we require of drugs, and lets do it on a massive scale.
- ScottBurson 16y agoI have one word for you, but it's a doozy: pneumoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
- T_S_ 16y agoJust because it catalyzes water into ice 9?
- growt 16y agoor in this case "glass 9" :)
- jbri 16y agoNanoscale silicon material with desireable physical properties? Sounds a little asbestosy to me.
- afterburner 16y agoYeah, I was just thinking, "what if it gets into my lungs?"
- Splines 16y agoHave no fear, consumer; it's breathable, so there's nothing to worry about.
- steveklabnik 16y ago> February 2, 2010 Yep. The year of spray-on liquid glass on the desktop! ( Previously: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1092741 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1092741 )
- morganpyne 16y agoDamn, well caught. I normally check the dates but didn't notice this was already a year old. Sorry for the old dupe. Wonder if it's now actually available anywhere. The description of this stuff is almost unbelievable and I wonder if they have found any downsides to it in the past year.
- steveklabnik 16y agoNo worries, it's really cool stuff. I haven't heard of any further developments yet.
- ximeng 16y agohttp://www.nanopool.eu/en/news/57-end-of-year-review-2010 http://www.nanopool.eu/en/news/57-end-of-year-review-2010 Here's their year-end review: a burst of publicity in February, and then hardly anything apart from a November article in "Cleanroom Technology". They're using it to coat toys in a children's hospital allowing kids that would not normally be allowed to play with the toys at all to use them.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- juiceandjuice 16y agoThe lack of understanding about possible cancerous effects of nano materials worries me, especially with stuff like this and "nanocosmetic" materials. I'd just hate to find out 20 years down the road that all of our miracle materials were slowly killing us.
- doyoulikeworms 16y agoPar for the course, as far as modern generations go.
- yummyfajitas 16y agoThe lack of understanding about possible cancerous effects of wifi worries me, especially with stuff like this and "cellular" phones. The lack of understanding about possible cancerous effects of CRT screens worries me, especially with stuff like this and "digital" displays. The lack of understanding about possible cancerous effects of GMO food worries me... The lack of understanding about possible cancerous effects of inert silicone gel breast implants worries me... Someone over 30 can fill in earlier examples: "The lack of understanding about possible cancerous effects of $NEW_TECHNOLOGY_I_DONT_UNDERSTAND worries me. I'd just hate to find out 20 years down the road that $NEW_TECHNOLOGY was slowly killing us. "
- jbri 16y agoThe lack of understanding about possible adverse effects of asbestos worries me... Oh wait, it is actually pretty nasty stuff. Now, while the "20 years down the road" thing is a bit silly, a lack of understanding about potential adverse effects is a reason to investigate further, not to dismiss anyone who's cautious about it as paranoid.
- ellyagg 16y agoSociety's track record is pretty good, then. Deaths attributable to asbestos are extremely rare in the scheme of things. Sensational headlines and ambulance chasing lawyers fool our primitive brain's broken probabilistic reasoning circuitry into making bad risk assessments. Given the overwhelming improvement in health and lifespan due to new material development and widespread use, I'd say we've been consistently making the right trade-offs. So, yeah, I'm firmly in the "OP is being paranoid" camp.
- radicaldreamer 16y agoYawn... I always see claims like this made about almost every new advance in materials science, but I hardly ever see these products reach the market.
- phlux 16y agoThat's because they are NANO - of course you can't see them - they are far too small.
- eru 16y agoThat's probably because the real advances aren't newsworthy. Who wants to read about a new kind of steel that's slightly harder than the old one?
- NyxWulf 16y agoNot only is this already a product, it's already on sale in Germany and other countries in europe. http://www.nanopool.biz/ http://www.nanopool.biz/ Product demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEgfdr7GKow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEgfdr7GKow I don't know why it isn't for sale in the US at this point. But this is not vapor-ware.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- qq66 16y agoWhenever they claim that something will revolutionize everything, it ends up in disappointment. The things that actually do revolutionize everything are usually pooh-poohed at the beginning ("Another search engine?")
- dools 16y agoRemember when Dean Kamen claimed that the Segway would change the way we built cities? Most hilarious product launch ever.
- ceejayoz 16y agoTalk about overpromising and underdelivering. I remember people speculating that he'd designed a compact, powerful hydrogen fuel cell, hoverboard or something similar.
- jonah 16y agoLike either of those would be massively revolutionary either.
- neworbit 16y agoWell, by comparison...
- jonah 16y agoThere already are portable fuel cells, you still have to get the Hydrogen somewhere. Now if the Orbo worked, that'd be something different. As for a hoverboard - sure it's technically more interesting than a Segway, but would it truly revolutionize anything?
- pyre 16y ago> As for a hoverboard - sure it's technically more interesting > than a Segway, but would it truly revolutionize anything It would for the cast of Back to the Future on Ice. ;-) Seriously though, I think that the technology behind a hoverboard would probably have far more implications than the technology behind the Segway. The product itself might not revolutionize much, but the technology behind it would.
- Tyrant505 16y agoIndeed, the possibilities of a spray with these properties are infinite. In spirit of hn, I imagine coating my mobo/cpu/gpu for safe and easy, fan-less, liquid cooling! Fill it up and maybe throw a jellyfish in there for good measure...
- pbhjpbhj 16y ago>I imagine coating my mobo/cpu/gpu for safe and easy, fan-less, liquid cooling! Isn't glass a thermal insulator? I guess a thin layer wouldn't create too great a temperature gradient. Sounds a nice idea. Of course you could do this now with a non-ionic liquid (oil?) but I don't fancy your jellyfishes chances.
- Luyt 16y agoPeople are already building immersion-cooled computers, see http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/hardcorepc_reactor http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/hardcorepc_reactor They use non-conductive oil instead of glass ;-)
- webXL 16y agoyawn... Get back to me when you have transparent aluminum.
- bpd1069 16y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transparent_aluminium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transparent_aluminium "To create transparent aluminium, more power than is used by an entire city had to be focused into a dot with a diameter of less than one-twentieth the thickness of a human hair, and then could only maintain the transparent state for 40 femtoseconds." And its only transparent to the X-rays that are needed to knock out the electron in the L-shell.
- lwat 16y agoWhat about aluminium oxide, does that count?
- adolph 16y agoHmm, I was hoping for spray-on gorilla glass!
- jjcm 16y agoWhat if it flakes off? How structurally stable is it? If a wide variety of things start using it, will it increase the risk of silicosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis) when using these products?
- civilian 16y agoJust guessing: But I think the flakes that cause silicosis are much larger than something 15-30 molecules wide.
- hagy 16y agoConcerns of breathing in this silicate have been popping up a lot in this discussion (especially concerns about silicosis). I’d just like to point out that we’re discussing very small quantities; nano-coatings of ~100nm, only 15-30 molecules high as mentioned in the articles. Wikipedia states that the silicate clusters ascribed to silicosis each have a diameter of ~10 microns; each clusters is 100 times larger than the thickness of this coating. Additionally, the article states that the silicate coating chemically bond to the applied surface. Such silicate bonds only cleave at high temperatures (500 deg C) so the coating won’t evaporate off under ambient conditions.
- bobds 16y ago> the coating won’t evaporate off under ambient conditions They say a coating lasts about a year, which is what is prompting this type of questions. What happens to it after a year? Does it stick to various things that come in contact with the coating? Does it break off and fall to the floor?
- hagy 16y agoSaying the coating lasts a year may imply that within a year the coating sustains enough damage to render it less effective. For instance 99% of the coating may be intact while a small portion has fragmented off due to imperfections in the formation of the initial layer. Additionally many surfaces, especially countertops, are themselves damaged at the micron scale in regular use. If a layer of the initial surface fragments off it will leave an uncoated surface behind. There additionally may be other mechanisms by which the coating is rendered less effective within a year, but I highly doubt a significant portion of the coating detaches from the surface within a year.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- fuzzythinker 16y agoSomewhat related -- Spray-on Solar cells: http://www.google.com/search?&q=spray-on+solar+cells http://www.google.com/search?&q=spray-on+solar+cells
- phlux 16y ago>Other outlets, such as many supermarkets, may be unwilling to stock the products because they make enormous profits from cleaning products that need to be replaced regularly, and liquid glass would make virtually all of them obsolete. I dont get it, I ahve a glass sink and counter in my bathroom at home. I still have to clean them. Every mirror I have ever had has been glass - I still windex them. All my drinks at home are served to me in nothing but the finest crystal - I still have my help clean them. etc....
- callmeed 16y agoI wonder if using the word "glass" is a good idea. I could see some public outcry when people hear that their hamburger and catheter has a "thin glass coating". Perhaps it will have a brand name later ...
- radicaldreamer 16y agoThe nonstick coating wore off your pan? Nonstick coat your food!
- jtchang 16y agoI wonder how you remove this kind of coating? Sandblast it?
- WiseWeasel 16y agoEasy, just heat to 500 degrees C.
- aidenn0 16y agoSounds like it would be useful to coat aramid composites, since many aramids decompose in UV
- dools 16y agoFinally!! A prediction from "Back to the Future" comes true!! We can get rid of our pesky dust jackets off our books and have dust free paper!!
- aik 16y agoIt says it only lasts for about a year. What happens to it? Does it steadily degrade over time, or is it exponential towards the end?
- elptacek 16y agoWhat rolls down stairs? Alone or in pairs? What rolls over your neighbor's dog? Spray-on liquid glass!
- jodrellblank 16y agoWhat fits on your back? is great for a snack? http://www.inventables.com/technologies/water-soluble-glass http://www.inventables.com/technologies/water-soluble-glass
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- mike463 16y agoThis isn't that new... I've always been told glass is already a liquid. :)
- bch 16y agoI've heard that too, but recently saw: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions#Chemistry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions#C...
- light3 16y agoIt said in the article that they tested this on plants.. what happens when the fruit grow does the coating expand?
- Eliezer 16y agoEvery time I see the phrase "revolutionize everything" I want to find someone to take that bet with me at odds of no worse than 9-1.
- mmaunder 16y agoInteresting demos of the tech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPWews7tj_k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPWews7tj_k
- theklub 16y agowhat company makes this and when can I invest?
- markdionne 16y agoImagine that regular glass had not yet been invented, and someone came up with it today. I suppose people here would be questioning its safety.
- khafra 16y agoThey'd be right to, there are significant health risks to regular glass. People cut arteries while accidentally sticking their hands through panes of it all the time.
- JabavuAdams 16y ago1) There's a long list of materials that are no problem outside your body but that are really bad for you when small pieces get inside your lungs. 2) There's a higher potential harm from new processes and materials that are used everywhere by consumers, versus being used by specialists in exposure-controlled environments. Because of (1) and (2), if there's anything wrong with this material, the harm will be multiplied. For example a possibly toxic material used in low-rate specialty manufacturing by protected workers is different from a possibly toxic material that's distributed in fun inhalers inside of cereal boxes. These concerns are not at all irrational, and are in fact more empirical than reflexive anti-questioning snarkery.
- conorgil145 16y agoThe coating is environmentally harmless and non-toxic, and easy to clean using only water or a simple wipe with a damp cloth. It repels bacteria, water and dirt, and resists heat, UV light and even acids. How can you use water to clean it if it repels water?
- lwat 16y agoHow do you wash your teflon pans?
- neworbit 16y agoI misread this as teflon pants and thought "pretty specialty purpose but I bet it'd make cleanup easy"...
- kragen 16y agoTeflon is Du Pont's brand name for polytetrafluoroethylene. Gore-Tex is Gore & Associates's brand name for thermo-mechanically expanded polytetrafluoroethylene. Gore-Tex is commonly used to make pants. Given that you wrote "Teflon" in lower-case, they probably qualify as "teflon pants" to you.
- mauriciob 16y agoTeflon is not removed with water.
- lwat 16y agoNeither is this
- JshWright 16y agoBut the water will stick to whatever you're trying to get off the surface, which is the the whole point of using water to clean things...
- monkeypizza 16y agothis looks like the stuff: (taobao link) http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=5777316505 http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=5777316505
- astrofinch 16y agoIf everything is sterile, how will our immune systems get any practice?
- Sapient 16y agoSpray-on glass isn't going to make this situation much worse than it already is.
- tjansen 16y agoSeems like you can buy it in Germany since 2007 (www.dienanoexperten.eu / www.der-nano-shop.de). Never heard about it before, so I guess it can't be that revolutionary, but maybe I give it a try...
- ilitirit 16y agoSpray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything 11 months ago.
- bsiemon 16y agoOther outlets, such as many supermarkets, may be unwilling to stock the products because they make enormous profits from cleaning products that need to be replaced regularly, and liquid glass would make virtually all of them obsolete Likely why the revolution has not arrived.