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Simple Method Yields A Wrinkly, Durable, Water-Repellent Coating (acs.org)
ckwu writes: Superhydrophobic coatings that make water droplets dance and roll off of a surface show promise for applications such as self-cleaning cars, buildings, and food processing equipment. A new method creates a durable superhydrophobic coating by combining two common materials -- Teflon and a shrinkable plastic -- in a few simple steps. The researchers took inspiration from work done with the polystyrene material found in Shrinky Dinks -- the children's crafting kit. They deposited Teflon onto a similar material called PolyShrink, heated it, and found that the Teflon formed a crinkled surface that caused water to bead and roll off easily. The best results came from polyolefin shrink wrap coated with a 10nm-thick layer of Teflon. What's more, the surface is durable, having about the same scratch resistance as an aluminum coating, and repels water even after being scratched. Update: 03/09 16:10 GMT by T : Note: That's nm, rather than mm; now fixed.
What's a factor of a million between friends?
I think it's more the Americans trying to work out this whole crazy newfangled metric system. Base 10 is just so friggin hard to grasp when you've accidentally shot off a bunch of your fingers.
Yeah, so if it takes 1 Calorie to raise 1cc of water 1K, and 1 Joule to raise 1cc of water 100m, how many Btus does it take to make an ounce of tea on Everest?
You can pick if it's a US or imperial ounce, but of course you'll need to express that in your answer.
> Mumble mumble mumble chemicals safe mumble mumble.
On the other hand, the Teflon does reduce dihydrogen monoxide contamination on the surfaces, so it somewhat balances out.