This reminds me of NeverWet: http://youtu.be/7is6r6zXFDc?t=17s The chocolate syrup on shoe demonstration is quite compelling.
Isn't that basically ScotchGuard?
MIT’s Non-Stick Coating Keeps Ketchup Flowing
21–30 of 110 posts
Re: MIT’s Non-Stick Coating Keeps Ketchup Flowing
#22Wow, I was just thinking of this the other day. I was opening honey packets into my yogurt and thought that some super-hydrophobic coating would get all that honey out of there.
This is really cool - it would be nice to see it coating piping as well.
Re: MIT’s Non-Stick Coating Keeps Ketchup Flowing
#23The secret to getting ketchup out is to give it a good shake, then hit the heel of your hand "upwards" on the top of the bottle, near where the neck meets the body (on the 57 or not, doesn't really matter). The upward force is what counts, and it somehow gets the ketchup to come out relatively smoothly. Most people strike downwards, and that's why it doesn't work. If you don't believe me, try it! Learned this trick f…
I believe the physics concept behind this is:
- An object will remain in the same state of motion (or rest) unless acted on by a force.
When you hit up on the bottle, you are applying a force primarily to the bottle. The force is applied to the sauce inside to a much lesser degree, so it stays closer to a state of rest. Therefore if the bottle goes up and the sauce stays at rest, it has the effect of moving the sauce down to the neck of the bottle.
Re: MIT’s Non-Stick Coating Keeps Ketchup Flowing
#24I wonder if companies will embrace this as a boon to consumers or if they can actually quantify how much money they would lose because people can get all the product out. Also the article has no information on how much the coating costs, or what kind of changes to the manufacturing process you'd have to make (like having to store the bottles somewhere post-spray to 'dry' or something). I also wonder if, in the case o…
Interesting point. Realistically, Heinz would prefer that you didn't get all the sauce out, because you'll buy another bottle more quickly if some isn't accessible.
Re: MIT’s Non-Stick Coating Keeps Ketchup Flowing
#25Good stuff! Good to see these kind of news on Hacker News where real world problems are solved.
Re: MIT’s Non-Stick Coating Keeps Ketchup Flowing
#26The secret to getting ketchup out is to give it a good shake, then hit the heel of your hand "upwards" on the top of the bottle, near where the neck meets the body (on the 57 or not, doesn't really matter). The upward force is what counts, and it somehow gets the ketchup to come out relatively smoothly. Most people strike downwards, and that's why it doesn't work. If you don't believe me, try it! Learned this trick f…
Ketchup is a non-newtonian fluid. This means that in low levels of force it's very thick - almost a solid.
But if you speed it up (for example by shaking), it thins out and pours like water.
Re: MIT’s Non-Stick Coating Keeps Ketchup Flowing
#27Perhaps this is ignorance, but I do not want this anywhere near my food. The FDA's said a lot of things are non-toxic over the years.
This was posted in the comments section of the article:
>I'm Dave Smith, and I just want to clarify that we make the coating from materials that are not just FDA approved, but that we actually eat on a regular basis in much larger quantities than could possibly be released from the coating.
Re: MIT’s Non-Stick Coating Keeps Ketchup Flowing
#28Perhaps this is ignorance, but I do not want this anywhere near my food. The FDA's said a lot of things are non-toxic over the years.
Knowing they FDA, they'll just ban companies from telling consumers whether or not it's in their products. Because if it's a medicine you might actually want to use, it's illegal unless you have $100 million dollars to pay for testing. But if it's something that can make food corporations money, not only doesn't it need to be tested but it's illegal for you to even know if you're eating it.
Do you have an example of this already happening?
Re: MIT’s Non-Stick Coating Keeps Ketchup Flowing
#29This somehow really drove home the opportunities some people have that others don't. The fact that such a competition exists at a university level for students makes me incredibly envious. I go to one of the highest ranking universities in my country and there is no such competition or even idea to push students to collaborate and compete at such a high level. I feel like I'm at a complete intellectual disadvantage to MIT students to a degree.
How must people feel who didn't even have the opportunity to complete secondary school feel? The world might be flattening but it has a long long way to go.
Re: MIT’s Non-Stick Coating Keeps Ketchup Flowing
#30I wonder if companies will embrace this as a boon to consumers or if they can actually quantify how much money they would lose because people can get all the product out. Also the article has no information on how much the coating costs, or what kind of changes to the manufacturing process you'd have to make (like having to store the bottles somewhere post-spray to 'dry' or something). I also wonder if, in the case o…
Perhaps the extra end-of-the-bottle amount would be offset by the ease of pouring causing people to use a little more than they expected each time