Hydrophilic Powder Used To Save Library Books

VersatilePrimate writes "Wired News has a story about a polymer that can instantaniously suck 2000 times in its body weight of water. Super Slurper, a starch-based polymer with a powerful thirst, has been employed in diapers and filters, but researchers want to turn the page and develop a different application: drying waterlogged books."

Comments

Acid, Heat, UV Eats Paper

[4of12]

From what I understand, one of the big problems for libraries is that mass produced paper in the last 150 years or so is acidic and degrades the paper. I've looked at 100 year old newspapers in local libraries that were practically crumbling.

Leave a newspaper out in the sun a couple of weeks and you'll get the idea of what happens in a shorter time frame.

I've heard of efforts to treat books with a base to help balance the pH and halt degradation, but I think it's somewhat expensive.

Sometimes I've thought that some of my old comic books might better be treated with a base or else stored in a freezer. Meanwhile, they're yellowing with age.

Re:Fact or fiction?

[meridoc]

Here's a link to a Sci. Am. article on super-absorbing stuff. At the bottom is a picture of water molecules associating with the polymer chain.

It'll help to remember that the water/polymer association is just that: an association. This isn't a 1:1 bonding situation, so the carboxyl groups can attract more than one water molecule.

This stuff is great

[K-Man]

I got a 5-lb bag from watersorb.com, and it has to be one of the most amusing substances I've seen in a while.

A handful of the stuff will turn a gallon of water into gel almost instantly, and it has a shimmering, translucent appearance.

Good for cleaning up toilet overflows, too.