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

The ultimate battle...

[greenhide]

This stuff vs. the Super Big Gulp...

Do you believe this?

[Futurepower(R)]

"... a mere teaspoon of the stuff can absorb a gallon of water"

Somebody has been pulling a reporter's leg.

Re:Do you believe this?

[morcheeba]

Nope. I bought some stuff like this at a magic store for practical jokes. A small packet in someone's drink will turn it to slurpee-consitancy. I'd guess a tablespoon would do a gallon, but I haven't tried that much - usually a teaspoon is plenty for a glass.

When it absorbs, the particles greatly increase in size, like a virgin sponge. The result will be the same volume as a gallon of water, but it will be jell-ified.

Consequently

[kurosawdust]

In a related story, the number of borrowable copies of Short Stories to Read While You Kayak jumped up 7,000%...

Re:MMMMMM

[A55M0NKEY]

I can hear the ice click against the plastic sides, and he fizz in my drink. 66 sloshing ounces of Diet Coke!

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.

Slurp?

[Anonymous Coward]

Super Slurper ... has been employed in diapers ...

I don't know whether to be horrified or aroused at the prospect of Super Slurper in my underpants.

Re:Fact or fiction?

[Rxke]

too viscous? just add another spoonful of the-cheap- stuff. Problem solved (no pun intended) BTW I sent the article to 4 paper restaurators, 2 already answered me in very enthousiastic ways... So it might be a killer-app in the making...

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.