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The Story of Starlite, the 'Blast Proof' Material (bbc.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the lost-forever dept.

OpenSourceAllTheWay writes: The BBC has posted an interesting video series on "Starlite," a white paste developed in the 1970s and 1980s by British hairdresser Maurice Ward that could completely insulate any object it coated, like a raw egg or a piece of cardboard, against extreme heat sources -- even acetylene torches, nuclear blasts and lasers capable of heating an object to 10,000 degrees Celsius. Anything Starlite paste was smeared on could withstand extreme heat exposure without the coated object melting or combusting or heating at all in the process. The heat-proof paste got a lot of attention around the world when it was demonstrated on the BBC's Tomorrow's World TV program in 1990. Ward was an eccentric inventor -- not a classically trained scientist -- who came up with the formula for Starlite by experimenting wildly with different substances. He got the initial idea for Starlite when he was burning garbage in his backyard one day and one particular piece of garbage simply would not burn at all. Ward thought that Starlite would be worth billions when commercialized. He let NASA and other scientists test Starlite -- it did work as advertised -- but never allowed anyone to retain a sample of the substance, fearing that it could be reverse engineered. Starlite never was commercialized properly, and Ward died in 2011 without making the millions or billions he had imagined he would. Sadly, Ward took the chemical formula for Starlite to his grave with him. To this day, nobody knows the exact chemical composition of Starlite, or how one might go about recreating the substance.

6 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. Tomorrows World by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As a small child I remember seeing this demonstrated on a UK Science program in the 70's I think. It truly was as amazing as it sounds

  2. Re:Nuclear blasts? Lasers? by Mathinker · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In good Slashdot tradition, I posted before doing real research.

    It seems that the material might have been designed to disperse the incoming energy via slow ablation, in similar fashion as spacecraft reentry heat shields work.

    There are limits as to how well a non-moving object can survive this way, I think. Even if the shield absorbed all of the incoming energy, you still end up surrounded by a cloud of super-heated plasma. Anyone want to chime in?

  3. Patents by bickerdyke · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm sorry and I know that they aren't very popular here, but that's what patents are for.

    Afraid of commercializing something and someone reverse-analysing and stealing it? Patent it! It's public knowledge then, but you can sue the crap out of anyone trying to steal it.

    --
    bickerdyke
    1. Re:Patents by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Only works if you have a lot of money and this guy did not.

      Patents are okay but they mean e.g. the Chinese can just copy your stuff because it's all hung out there; This guy didn't want ANYONE to be able to copy his formula - He didn't want it to be in the public domain.

      He didn't even keep a copy in a safe or with his family - He knew how precious his idea was but was too greedy/paranoid to trust anyone else to keep the secret... which, judging by how the world is now, was probably right.

    2. Re:Patents by Xest · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Maybe that explains this:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Challenger 2 tanks suffered no tank losses to Iraqi fire, although one was penetrated by an Improvised explosive device (IED). This was, at the time, unprotected by Dorchester armour. The driver was injured. In one encounter within an urban area, a Challenger 2 came under attack from irregular forces with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades. The driver's sight was damaged and while attempting to back away under the commander's directions, the other sights were damaged and the tank threw its tracks entering a ditch. It was hit by 14 rocket propelled grenades from close range and a MILAN anti-tank missile. The crew survived, safe within the tank until it was recovered for repairs, the worst damage being to the sighting system. It was back in operation six hours later. One Challenger 2 operating near Basra survived being hit by 70 RPGs in another incident."

      Or maybe they were just using non-penetrating warheads being fired from ineffective angles, which might be an effective approach against a Humvee but is a bit like using a BB gun to try and destroy a land rover when used on a tank. I suspect this is more likely to be the case than secret magic armour, though the good version of Chobham armour the Challenger 2 uses is still a state secret even if it probably contains nothing magical I believe.

    3. Re:Patents by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      > (We're still trying to figure out how Stradivarius made his violins.)

      I'm still trying to figure out why it's taking so long for people to understand that there is nothing particularly special about Strads when they are tested in rigorous, double-blinded tests.