Should've got a couple of Discworld hydrophobes rather...
To avoid that Titanic feeling, boffins create an unsinkable hydrophobic metal with laser power
Scientists have fashioned an unsinkable type of metal by etching the surface with lasers, creating an unusual “superhydrophobic” layer. The new research, published this week in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, was inspired by diving bell spiders and fire ant assemblies. Both types of creepy crawlies are able to travel …
-
-
-
Friday 8th November 2019 13:58 GMT Muscleguy
Re: Hmmm...
Goretex covered trainers are a thing you know. I had a pair and they worked, provided the puddles were not so deep the water could overtop them of course. But it changed the way you run in the wet compared to normal mesh covered shoes.
I have worn the latter into one Dundee winter Sunday morning. -10C when I arose according the Met Office. It got noticeably colder as I left the built up area. As the cycle path doglegged across the drainage ditch it was flooded to mid ankle height.
Normally cyclists broke the ice, but i seemed the only human out that morning. So I had to high step it to break the ice and felt the very cold water entering my shoes.
However I was equipped with the wonder tech that is Hilly Twin Skin socks (no connection with the company). Before I’d gone 200m and while my shoes were still squelching my feet began to warm up again. 400m further and my feet were both dry and toasty.
Never run long without double skin socks. Don’t run medium distance in the wet without them.
-
-
Friday 8th November 2019 08:16 GMT KittenHuffer
Re: Could this reduce friction?
Sorry, but the hydrophobic bits of the metal are actually on the two surfaces facing each other across a small gap. So, the metal is actually floating because it is 'trapping' a bubble of air between two pieces of metal.
The hydrophobic surface is not on the outside, so it will not affect the friction between the ship and the water.
-
Friday 8th November 2019 08:53 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Could this reduce friction?
"The hydrophobic surface is not on the outside" but it could be. Specifically they could treat both sides with the laser.
I would certainly be interested in seeing the results - I suspect it would work like shark/dolphin skin where it traps an ultra-thin layer of water,effectively making the whole thing super-smooth.
-
-
-
-
Friday 8th November 2019 17:09 GMT Chris G
Re: Could this reduce friction?
I have worked on a fair number of sailing and motor yachts, including doing the prep and application of anti foul, it doesn't matter which one you use, sometimes the little critters in the water just decide they like it and grow there.
Barnacles and the like start life as microscopic organisms that would probably regard a microscopically laser roughed surface as an invitation to set up home.
-
-
Friday 8th November 2019 17:05 GMT quxinot
Re: Could this reduce friction?
>Depends how often you can sweep back with more lasers. In fact, forget the hydrophobia, just blast a plasma field in front of you through the water... shouldn't take more than a few terrawatts per meter of travel. ;)
That would (briefly, perhaps) also solve rising sea levels. Though we'd have dramatically more clouds in the sky.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Friday 8th November 2019 09:58 GMT I ain't Spartacus
Cunning plan
All we need to do is to fit this laser onto a plane. Or ship, but the US have got that old 747 for anti-missile testing.
Then we shoot the lasers at all the Russian submarines, while they're in port. Hey presto! Their submarines permanently float.
Oh sorry, didn't you want your boat to float? We thought we were being helpful...
-
Friday 8th November 2019 10:20 GMT Anonymous South African Coward
Re: Cunning plan
Maybe they can bake this into the next Austin Powers movie.... Dr Evil threatens to floats all the navies of the worlds' submarines unless he's paid 4000 bitcoin (or something like that)
muhuhahaha.
A BOFH-type will find great uses for said laser... lining the insides of the Boss's coffee mug (for example)....
-
-
-
-
Friday 8th November 2019 14:56 GMT devTrail
Re: Boxed double layer
Sealed boxes are already quite common in small boats to keep them floating should they capsize. Mostly they are used in fiberglass boats where they are also part of the structure. But that's not my point, I pictured in my mind two layers with a small gap and a frame inside because it is a structure close to the surface full of holes, I wanted to understand where's the difference.
-
-
-
Friday 8th November 2019 13:17 GMT Roger Kynaston
antifoul
A while ago a friend of my Brother's based in Ireland developed a nano etched surface that repelled weed. Given that all boats and ships have to paint their bottoms (snigger) with some sort of toxic paint to stop weed growing this might have an application there. seaweed wouldn't grow in air. I see that it is the inner surfaces of this that trap the air but with further development.
I would love to not have to apply some evil toxic goop to my bottom!
-
-
-
-
-
-
Saturday 9th November 2019 21:33 GMT jake
Re: Copper bottomed
It contains anything that the growies[0] find distasteful, often including various heavy metals. Some are more poisonous to humans than the chemical monstrosity that goes into pressure treated lumber.
[0] "Growies" is a technical term; I'm sorry if such specialized jargon is over your head.
-
-
-
-
Saturday 9th November 2019 20:09 GMT jake
Re: antifoul
The red on barns isn't blood, it is red ochre, or hematite (Fe2O3). Other colo(u)rs are available, depending on location (us farmers are cheap bastards and will use whatever is local and plentiful). The colo(u)rant is mixed with a combination of lime, casein and water ("whitewash"). Milk can be substituted for the casein and water, thus the term "milk paint". A chemical reaction cures and "plasticizes" the mixture, creating a long-wearing surface. Note the present tense in this paragraph. We still do it this way.
Blood sacrifices were made to dedicate new buildings in some cultures, true. But the blood wasn't used for paint to the best of my knowledge... in my case, it's more smeared in places after the barn in question bites me while I'm building it.
-
Monday 11th November 2019 10:45 GMT Roger Kynaston
Re: antifoul
No. Antifoul paint contains a cocktail of biocides in it. Most these days are based on copper but, back in the day, were based on tri-butyl tin (TBT) it was incredibly effective but also killed lots of other stuff and persists for a very long time. I have heard it said that you can follow the shipping lanes across the North Sea by following the areas bereft of life on the sea bed.
My bottom is truly copper bottomed. It uses powdered metallic copper in an epoxy substrate. The copper oxidises to cuprous oxide which is the active ingredient. This then further decays to cupric oxide which ablates off to expose another layer of copper and so on. it has lasted ten years now but probably needs a new application now.
Beer cos Friday but not too much as I am driving down to said boat tomorrow.
-
-
-
-
-
Saturday 9th November 2019 21:00 GMT jake
Eventually make an unsinkable boat? How about since 1958?
"to eventually create unsinkable boats capable of staying afloat despite being damaged."
I take it the Researchers from the University of Rochester in New York aren't old enough to have seen the Boston Whaler adverts ...
Sometimes old tech is not merely adequate, it's actually better than proposed new tech.
-
Monday 11th November 2019 09:44 GMT Big_Boomer
Come and see my etchings <hehehe>
The etching on the outside surface of the hull could reduce running friction of a hull, although it still has to push a lot of water out of the way. The anti-fouling effect would also help (Barnacles, etc. cannot attach to hull that has an air barrier covering it), as would not having to paint the hull with chemical nasties. Both could massively reduce the carbon emissions of shipping, so well done to the scientists working on this. Not taken on the flotation characteristics as it seems we already have flotation sorted, and have had since before records began.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
