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On The Nature Of Slime: Molecular Engineering
Effugas writes: "New Scientist is running a surprisingly readable series about the nature of slime made from polymer chains. Far more fascinating set of articles than I would have expected; for all the theoretical talk of grey goo and nanotech robotics, chemists really are the ones doing the largest scale engineering on the smallest of scales. I especially enjoyed the article about the hagfish, which can when under duress turn the five gallons of water around it into utterly impenetrable sludge -- instantaneously." The article also has a great do-it-yerself recipe for some bouncy homemade slime.
What poor and haphazard research ... an article about slime and there's no mention of the RIAA, the American Bar Association, or the Direct Marketing Association?
I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
Weirdly, the only thing that shows up when you search for 'hagfish' the results that showed up prominently featured the name "Caroline Meinel". Odd, that.
The article appears not to be online (boo!) but here's a summary: http://www.sciam.com/1998/1098issue/1098quicksumma ry.html
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If I remember correctly, in Martin Cruz Smith's book, Polar Star, there is a scene where they autopsy a body recovered from the ocean, and discover one or more hagfish inside the corpse, chowing down on the internal organs. The hagfish will enter a corpse through any available orifice and feed on the internal organs. It reminded me of the creature in the movie Alien.
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Where I live there is an aquarium not far away. They have a row of tanks with things in that you can touch (starfish, sea urchins, etc.). For some reason, they keep the hagfish in a tank on the end of the row, with a cover on. Ugly brute - and imagine, (given it's placement) the sort of accident that could happen if they left the cover off ;-). (Actually, the staff said a I could touch it if I really wanted to - I declined).
... um ... ahh ... nevermind"
Also, with the strands in the slime being somewhat silk-like, image it being used as a replacement for silk? "No, it's not silk you are wearing, it's
Even if they aren't able to completely imitate the hagfish, a technology like this might be able to be used in submarine warfare.
Nah. While this stuff does have amazing viscosifying powers, it doesn't have any real mechanical strength. A sub's propellers would curn it to shreds in no time.
The company I used to work for was the manufacturer of Gack! for Mattel. This stuff is made from guar, a natural polymer derived from a plant grown mostly in India using pretty much the same recipie as that for PVA slime outlined in the New Scientist article.
Many of these natural polymeric thickeners are used in food to improve the way it feels in your mouth. Prime places are in salad dressings, ice cream, doughnut fillings, etc.
Calling this stuff nanotechnology is a bit of a misnomer, though. The chemical structures of these most of these polymers are quite random, it is only on a statistical basis that you control their bulk properties. In nanotechnology you are trying to control the structure at a much deeper level.
Other areas of chemistry, such as self-assembly of surfactant films are where the real work that is forwarding nanotechnology is being done.
If anyone is interested in reading more about hagfish and seeing pictures of their slimy defence mechanism, check out this page: http://oceanlink.island.net/oinfo/hagfish/hagfish. html
Regards,
I did a little paper on hagfish back in highschool, and they're really rather interesting animals, if not a little ugly. They've got multiple hearts that all beat in seperate rhythm, they've got the whole slime thing and the ability to tie themselves in a knot to remove the slime, and to escape from and confuse predators. They can change their gender from season to season to suit the conditions. Despite a relatively low birth rate, they exist in significant numbers, so they must be doing a good job at keeping themselves alive. All in all a pretty efficient species. Fossil records show that they've existed in pretty much their present form for quite some time, so they can't be too dumb for tying themselves in knots.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
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Even if they aren't able to completely imitate the hagfish, a technology like this might be able to be used in submarine warfare. It'd have to be mighty powerful stuff and in greater quantities to trap incoming torpedoes, or clog the screws (propellers) of an enemy submarine, but it has possibility. Of course, it wouldn't be a primary weapon, but they could release a fence of the mixture if need-be. However, they'd need to have a solution to dissolve the stuff, should they become trapped in their own net.
They already have countermeasures in which they plot a solution. I think it's magnesium that splashes around in front of the incoming torp. It wouldn't be difficult assumedly to change what's coming out of the countermeasure device.
A chem stockroom manager and I were playing around with this stuff, using PVA and Borax solutions, however it didn't last long. The net of molecules (which traps the water molecules) would eventually break down, due to impurities from hands, etc. We found adding a little glycerin would help it hold up longer. I still have a jar of it from 5 years ago, which is still good!
Another example, I discovered entirely by accident in elementary school, was to combine powdered borax soap and Elmer's glue. It made a nice slime, which dried out pretty fast, but could make rubber-like balls. I learned from the stockroom manager that this was another example of the PVA & Borax combo. Too bad I didn't Patent it! (ha!)
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[...] the hagfish, which can when under duress turn the five gallons of water around it into utterly impenetrable sludge -- instantaneously."
Is this similar to the way an MPAA or a RIAA lobbyist can when under Congress, turn the brains of the five legislators around it into utterly impenetrable sludge -- instantaneously?
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Other Excellent recipes for slime exist and are not hard to find.
There have been some cool articles on polymers and slimes at Science News and ACS, but that hagfish was news to me. Oooooh!
I'm doing a similar experiment in my fridge. I'm trying to find out which will evolve the fastest, the meatloaf, or the milk. See, i think the milk has the advantage because it has a pre-set date on its side. But the meatloaf could catch up i think. The meatloaf is bigger, therefore more dominant.
OH god, i've been programming all night long. I can't think strait. All I can think while typing this is how to getc and ungetc all these characters and how to write them to a file.
Yep, unfortunately the hagfish are not immune to the slime themselves so they tie themselves in a knot which they then slide along their body to scrape it off. Either very cool or extremely dumb, I haven't decided.
The slime itself has loads of uses from helping to mop up chemical spills to (allegedly) tank armour(?!), via wallpaper paste probably.
Elgon