Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees • Hacker News Board

Re: Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

#31

Post by zoklet-enjoyer » Sat, Jun 22, 2024, 6:33 PM UTC

midasz wrote: post #22

deaddodo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article was written for an American audience. I feel like if you went to a French article and it said "12 degrees" you would know to convert that to Fahrenheit, if you needed. And that's an even less common situation than second-language English speakers ending up on American articles.

How come specifically American, and how'd you reach that conclusion from glancing at the site? A huge number of people speak English as a second language. Usually the notation follows the number, so it's kind of lazy to just say it's written for americans specifically - moreso as a counter to someone saying it's Farenheit instead of Celcius since I also clicked immediately thinking how is that possible.

It's about a material that was developed in the United States and mentions several locations, all of which are in the United States.

Re: Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

#32

Post by KeplerBoy » Sat, Jun 22, 2024, 6:43 PM UTC

__alexs wrote: post #24

If the difference between two numbers in Celsius is Kelvin, what unit is the difference between two numbers in Fahrenheit?

Fahrenheit. When subtracting two quantities the result has the same unit, we just use Kelvin because it's the appropriate SI unit.

Re: Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

#33

Post by cyberax » Sat, Jun 22, 2024, 6:43 PM UTC

denton-scratch wrote: post #18

I'm suspicious that perhaps silver nanowires might be a health risk? I believe finely-divided silver can be toxic, at least in some circumstances. Also, it's a composite with a plastic material, and would probably resist all attempts to recycle it, resulting eventually in microplastics (contaminated with metallic silver).

Silver is uniquely non-toxic among heavy metals. You can consume a lot of it without consequences. Some people do, look up "colloidal silver".

However, it also has a long elimination half-life, and it can stain the skin.

Re: Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

#34

Post by jajko » Sat, Jun 22, 2024, 6:43 PM UTC

deaddodo wrote: post #13

vermilingua wrote: post #6

I feel like the title should qualify that this is 16degF

The article was written for an American audience. I feel like if you went to a French article and it said "12 degrees" you would know to convert that to Fahrenheit, if you needed. And that's an even less common situation than second-language English speakers ending up on American articles.

That's a weak defense when its obviously beneficial for marketing to claim 16 of X, instead of 8 improvement. Which at the end isn't even that if I understood the claims correctly.

95% of the world population uses Celsius scale, all scientists and military use it too, and ignoring units when having bombastic claims is either negligence or more probably on purpose.

I am pretty sure the team (and subsequently company/companies) behind it is not limiting itself strictly to US market and willingly ignoring rest of the world, when there are countries with much bigger heat issues than US.

Re: Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

#35

Post by Palomides » Sat, Jun 22, 2024, 6:47 PM UTC

denton-scratch wrote: post #18

I'm suspicious that perhaps silver nanowires might be a health risk? I believe finely-divided silver can be toxic, at least in some circumstances. Also, it's a composite with a plastic material, and would probably resist all attempts to recycle it, resulting eventually in microplastics (contaminated with metallic silver).

silver has been used for a while in antimicrobial fabrics, to my knowledge it's pretty safe

Re: Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

#36

Post by proee » Sat, Jun 22, 2024, 7:01 PM UTC

This is how modern roofing stackups work. They have a radiant heat barrier (layer) usually made from a thin foil shield attached to the roofing plywood. The only catch is you need a vented barrier below the foil to remove the heat. This is usually in the form of battons that are vented out to a ridge vent.

For this fabric to work, the third layer is acting like a thermal insulator - making sure the silver layer does not transfer the heat to your body.

Re: Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

#37

Post by catlikesshrimp » Sat, Jun 22, 2024, 7:01 PM UTC

deaddodo wrote: post #13

vermilingua wrote: post #6

I feel like the title should qualify that this is 16degF

The article was written for an American audience. I feel like if you went to a French article and it said "12 degrees" you would know to convert that to Fahrenheit, if you needed. And that's an even less common situation than second-language English speakers ending up on American articles.

I also think there is not much more effort to type °C than °F, unless the writer isn't familiar with the topic.

(The article does include both units. It is only the title trying to be sensationalist)

Re: Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

#38

Post by robxorb » Sat, Jun 22, 2024, 7:05 PM UTC

readthenotes1 wrote: post #21

euroderf wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not 16 degrees Fahrenheit, but rather, 16 Fahrenheit degrees.

Is it cupfuls or cupsful?

No! It's "cups".

Re: Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

#39

Post by kjkjadksj » Sat, Jun 22, 2024, 7:05 PM UTC

cyberax wrote: post #33

denton-scratch wrote: post #18

I'm suspicious that perhaps silver nanowires might be a health risk? I believe finely-divided silver can be toxic, at least in some circumstances. Also, it's a composite with a plastic material, and would probably resist all attempts to recycle it, resulting eventually in microplastics (contaminated with metallic silver).

Silver is uniquely non-toxic among heavy metals. You can consume a lot of it without consequences. Some people do, look up "colloidal silver". However, it also has a long elimination half-life, and it can stain the skin.

Uhh, there are consequences to ingesting colloidal silver, if you look it up.

Re: Impossibly thin fabric could cool you down by 16-plus degrees

#40

Post by 6510 » Sat, Jun 22, 2024, 7:06 PM UTC

jajko wrote: post #34

deaddodo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article was written for an American audience. I feel like if you went to a French article and it said "12 degrees" you would know to convert that to Fahrenheit, if you needed. And that's an even less common situation than second-language English speakers ending up on American articles.

That's a weak defense when its obviously beneficial for marketing to claim 16 of X, instead of 8 improvement. Which at the end isn't even that if I understood the claims correctly. 95% of the world population uses Celsius scale, all scientists and military use it too, and ignoring units when having bombastic claims is either negligence or more probably on purpose. I am pretty sure the team (and subsequently company/c…

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl0653

>.. spectrally selective hierarchical fabric (SSHF) with emissivity greatly dominant in the atmospheric transmission window through molecular design, minimizing the net heat gain from the surroundings. The SSHF features a high solar spectrum reflectivity of 0.97 owing to strong Mie scattering from the nano-micro hybrid fibrous structure. The SSHF is 2.3°C cooler than a solar-reflecting broadband emitter when placed vertically in simulated outdoor urban scenarios during the day and also has excellent wearable properties.