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Mechanically-Created Frictionless Surface
EoRaptor writes "How to enhance the properties of already low friction surfaces down to zero friction. Even water won't stick. I found this link over on Ars Technica. First, I'll build a black ship with black controls that light up black..."
uhh... no. If the polymer is truly 100% frictionless then it might be possible to violate the second law of thermodynamics(I would still doubt it though). But there is still no way to get infinite power (thus violating the first law)! Having no friciton doesn't mean that the generator won't take energy to move... it just means that it doesn't lose any to waste heat generated by friciton. Conservation of energy still applies, and while it might be possible to get a Carnot cycle (highest efficiency possible) going, I would still doubt it because of waste heat generated by other means. so in summary: There is no way this polymer could be used to generate infinite energy, but it could be used to improve efficiency of heat engines if it could stand the temperatures.
But can a gecko walk on it?
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
Could the basic process they use for this
(stretching a substrate, adding a coating
and then allowing the substrate to contract) be
used to create cheaper / smaller / faster chips?
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." - Buckaroo Banzai
I'm surprised that no one has offered the most obvious application of this product (if truly frictionless): perpetual motion. As I understand it, not having taken any thermodynamics courses, the only thing that stands in the way of perpetual motion is the loss of energy through frictional heat. Remove that energy loss, and something could go forever. Given that a moving magnetic field generates an electric field, then this substance could theoretically be applied to large magnet assemblies such as those in power plants, causing them to move indefinately, thus generating vast amounts of cheap power. I wonder if this will pan out?
Wow, something for bus stops and building siding that Grafiti Vandals couldn't spray paint. I wonder if it could be used to stop someone from scratching the paint job on my car.
The truth shall set you free!
Has anyone thought of how to get rid of this wonderfully inert material once it has out-lived its usefulness?? If it can't be scratched, etc, how can we pull it off something? If it turns out acids don't phase it, how do we break it down to dispose of it? Just a thought...
<grumble>the story submitter got to the pun before I could...<grumble>
"Titanic was 3hr and 17min long. They could have lost 3hr and 17min from that."
IBM had PL/1, with syntax worse than JOSS,
And everywhere the language went, it was a total loss...
Wow. I can't believe that the moderators haven't put this one on the main page. This could change mechanical engineering like the transistor changed computing.
Yes, I know it probably isn't magic, but think of all the things where friction is a limiting factor. Even if this type of coating only HALVES the friction force, the impact would be incredible. If it really is as non-reactive as they are saying, a whole new class of containers and transmission conduits would spring into being.
What's more, this sounds like a relatively straight-forward manufacturing process and could probably be incorporated into almost anything where one part rubs on another or needs to be protected from the elements.
I want more specs! How hard is this stuff, could it function as a cheap substitute for industrial diamond coatings? Is this stuff a conductor or insulator (either? semi?) At those densities, how does it bleed heat?
Bond a coating of this stuff to ship hulls and watch those barnacles try and get a grip! That alone would revolutionize the costs of sea transport. Not to mention the reduction in friction effects for the hull itself. Anything that has to resist the effects of sea water would be transformed.
Near frictionless bearings without magnetics or lubrication, now THAT would be cool...
One of the biggest problems facing medical researchers who have been trying to come up with a decent way to run a good artificial heart has been the lack of substances with which to build the thing.
Barney Clark, the first artificial heart recipient, died of a stroke due to clotting in the device that eventually traveled to his brain. The new 'heart assist' pumps that are in use now that aid patients until their heart heals from an injury or disease, or until they can find a donor heart are made with certain ceramic materials that are so irregular that blood clots on them more rapidly than on smooth polymers and metals that were used in earlier devices.
The theory behind these is that because the surface is so rough, the blood clots that do form are much less likely to break off and work their way into a critical artery blockage. It seems to work, but these devices are *Very* high maintenance and require tubes and/or wires to extend from the chest cavity to power them.
This new material could have a profound effect on artificial organ research because, like the smooth muscle of the heart, blood won't clot on this stuff. If the research proves out, artificial heart devices can be made smaller, more powerful and less intrusive.
I just hope these guys realize this and will provide samples to research hospitals...
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