Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything • Hacker News Board

Re: Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything

#71

Post by endtime » Fri, Jan 14, 2011, 1:56 AM UTC

hagy wrote: post #65

bobds wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

Saying 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 fra…

>a small portion has fragmented off

I think the question was specifically about this - what has happened to that small portion?

Re: Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything

#72

Post by ceejayoz » Fri, Jan 14, 2011, 1:59 AM UTC

dools wrote: post #57

qq66 wrote: post #21

Whenever 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?")

Remember when Dean Kamen claimed that the Segway would change the way we built cities? Most hilarious product launch ever.

Talk about overpromising and underdelivering. I remember people speculating that he'd designed a compact, powerful hydrogen fuel cell, hoverboard or something similar.

Re: Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything

#73

Post by billswift » Fri, Jan 14, 2011, 2:01 AM UTC

KaeseEs wrote: post #59

bergie wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asbestos was also a great idea once :-)

It 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.

Try "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.

Re: Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything

#74

Post by billswift » Fri, Jan 14, 2011, 2:11 AM UTC

sudont wrote: post #28

yummyfajitas wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh? Asbestos has been known to be harmful for a long time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos#History_of_health_conc...

Cigarettes, DDT, Agent Orange, radium, hormone-leaching plastics, certain pharmaceuticals, antibiotic-laced meat. All were known to be harmful and were subject to a cover up to promote consumption. You can debate his example, but his point stands.

DDT, Agent Orange, "hormone-leaching" plastics are not harmful to people. Antibiotics in meats are only a problem to a small number of allergic people. Of course, if you are really a vegetable or insect, then I could see why you consider the first two to be threats.

Re: Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything

#75

Post by Eliezer » Fri, Jan 14, 2011, 2:17 AM UTC

Every 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.

Re: Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything

#76

Post by Luyt » Fri, Jan 14, 2011, 2:20 AM UTC

Tyrant505 wrote: post #22

Indeed, 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...

People are already building immersion-cooled computers, see http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/hardcorepc_reactor

They use non-conductive oil instead of glass ;-)

Re: Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything

#77

Post by rapind » Fri, Jan 14, 2011, 2:23 AM UTC

hagy wrote: post #51

jjcm wrote: post #29

What 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 ) when using these products?

Concerns 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 t…

I'm actually far less alarmed about the material. It sounds pretty great. What worries me is this fixation we seem to have with eliminating bacteria... Isn't there a downside to this?

If we spread it around as much as this article describes it seems to me like we'd greatly sanitize our environment... What happens if we greatly reduce the amount of bacteria we're exposed to daily due to some sort of invention like nano spray-on glass?

Re: Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything

#78

Post by pavel_lishin » Fri, Jan 14, 2011, 2:28 AM UTC

sophacles wrote: post #41

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #2

This seems like the kind of report they'd show as a flashback in a post-apocalyptic film :)

I'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…

> 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?

Re: Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything

#79

Post by cyrus_ » Fri, Jan 14, 2011, 2:30 AM UTC

billswift wrote: post #74

sudont wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cigarettes, DDT, Agent Orange, radium, hormone-leaching plastics, certain pharmaceuticals, antibiotic-laced meat. All were known to be harmful and were subject to a cover up to promote consumption. You can debate his example, but his point stands.

DDT, Agent Orange, "hormone-leaching" plastics are not harmful to people. Antibiotics in meats are only a problem to a small number of allergic people. Of course, if you are really a vegetable or insect, then I could see why you consider the first two to be threats.

Humans rely on vegetables and insects for survival. Overuse of antibiotics can lead to the development of high levels of resistance.

Re: Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything

#80

Post by sophacles » Fri, Jan 14, 2011, 3:14 AM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #78

sophacles wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'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…

> 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-hu…

I will arbitrarily define it at the time of the collapses, based on my rough knowledge of history and completely arbitrary whim, by looking around me and deciding everything based on the people I see.

Oddly, I lost a bet to myself with you comment, I figgured the first bit of pedantry would be over my statement regarding prizes being awarded at the end of the collapse. Such a thing is:

1. Even harder to judge

2. A much less useful time to be giving out caches of valuable supplies than the bits on the way down.

Anyway, given it is an apocalypse, odds are neither of us would survive, strictly statistically speaking, so who cares how I judge. If I remain alive, I am honestly not going to wait around for you for the argument given you are most likely dead, and I hope for your sake you would do the same for me by prying the cache location out of my dead hands.

As for your girlfriend's game: I have heard, and seen myself, that even the places that are most "terrifying ugly and bad" (first hand: the slums of Detroit and Pre-Katrina new Orleans, second hand: mogadishu, slums of bombay, etc) are surprisingly civilized. The "crazy fight for survival" based entertainment scenarios are about as realistic as the "evil corporation", "massive government conspiracy" and "small team of highly trained operatives" ones are. Such things may exist, but they are both more boring and more interesting than any such entertainment ever will be. Just sayin...