5 ms·
So many questions: Do the spikes get broken or rubbed off if touched by or hands (for example of used on a doorknob as they mentioned) So they kill viruses if
by r-johnv 3y ago
So many questions:
Do the spikes get broken or rubbed off if touched by or hands (for example of used on a doorknob as they mentioned)
So they kill viruses if they land on it in a droplet
- thsksbd 3y agoIf this had been made with copper or steel, id be more impressed. Right note I'm just dreading that we're going to flood our environment with another forever material.
- compressedgas 3y agoPersonally less a forever material and more a new asbestos.
- Cthulhu_ 3y agoDoes this mean everyone's favorite word, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovulcanoconiosis, will become mainstream?
- ben_w 3y agoOnly hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophilies, nerds, and people who have been dared to attempt to pronounce it aloud in the presence of others, will care to use it.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ralusek 3y agoGill got that from a commercial
- thsksbd 3y agoIts a good descriptor of what it is. And this will last a lot linger than fluorinates
- thsksbd 3y agoAsbestos is a forever chemical. One made naturally. Asbestos is an amazing. Im really annoyed I cant buy it - as a professional - to play with. But it's amazing because it is forever chemical.
- Intralexical 3y agoOn a serious note, since asbestos is fibrous, with asbestos it's the entire volume of the material that can be problematic, right? Adding a sub-micrometer thick layer of spikes probably isn't as bad.
- thsksbd 3y agoIm not worried about a spiky slab. Im worried when the spikes are sheared off and join nature. You can argue that the amounts would be minuscule since the spikes are only on a surface, but no one has.
- Latty 3y agoSilicon is hardly some wild exotic material, we are talking about 30% of the Earth's crust here. I can understand worrying if this could impact other things in this form, but I'm not sure why making it out of copper or steel instead would matter.
- flybrand 3y agoAgreed - we’ve got a lot of ‘forever materials’ out on the beach and converted into glass windows.
- thsksbd 3y agoHardly nano scale shaped fibers, are they? And btw, silicosis from weathering sand is a thing.
- thsksbd 3y agoBut the shape isn't that common. Except in things that are highly regulated materials, like asbestos, which is long fibers of SiO2. SiO2, which is exactly what these Si fibers will become as soon as it is in contact with air. A material that can puncture cell membranes and is almost certainly a catalyst.
- Latty 3y agoI don't really understand the focus on the material rather than the shape then, why would copper in this shape not be a problem?
- thsksbd 3y agoBecause SiO2 is one of the most stable minerals known, whereas copper and iron (and their oxides) are not; they readily chemically and biologically available and will be dealt with by the body. Keeping iron from dissolving is hard Dissolving SiO2 is nearly impossible (one of the many great advantages SiO2 brings in Si in lithograpjy). EDIT: You can do these experiment at home! Buy very fine iron wool and some fiber glass. The giber glass is a stand in for asbestos. Warning! these experiments involve fire or the evolution of corrosive fluids. Blow torch the iron and glass wool. How do they fare? WARNING! This fire is very hard to put out. Mix bleach with iron wool and glass wool. Mix vinegar. Note, for best results use organic apple vinegar with the mother, or a too shelf Japanese rice vinegar Mist the iron wool and the fiber glass with water. RESULT: In all these experiments glass was unfazed. Iron didn't make it in any. Sometimes violently.
- ben_w 3y agoWhy do you think the specific element matters? Why is this being made from silicon — one of the main elemental components of most rock and sand — something you denounce as a "forever material" when you're fine with copper and steel?
- lazide 3y agoI’m guessing because silicon is longer lasting? Essentially forever except for mechanical weathering. Diatomaceous earth, for example. Asbestos for another. Steel and even copper degrade much quicker.
- ben_w 3y agoDiatomaceous earth and asbestos are categorised as silicates, which is the oxide of silicon rather than the pure metal. Metallic silicon is different from silicon oxide in the way that water is different from hydrogen gas or that charcoal is different from carbon dioxide… or that steel is different from rust and copper different from verdigris. Also notable: some of the common forms of asbestos have almost as many iron atoms as silicon in the chemical formula, and all the ones I looked at have far more oxygen.
- lazide 3y agoGood points! I guess the big question would be if the oxidized form (the silicon oxide structure) would be safer (similar to rust) or dangerous. At least silicosis shouldn’t be a real risk at the quantity used I would hope?
- Cheer2171 3y agoSilicon is chosen precisely because it is much easier to turn into small fibers, literally just like asbestos. Silicon is the second most abundant material in asbestos, after oxygen.
- yread 3y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis I hope it doesn't catch up