One very dry demo
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0:01 - 0:03I'm here to show you
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0:03 - 0:06how something you can't see can be so much fun to look at.
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0:06 - 0:10You're about to experience a new, available
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0:10 - 0:13and exciting technology that's going to make us rethink
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0:13 - 0:15how we waterproof our lives.
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0:15 - 0:18What I have here is a cinder block
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0:18 - 0:20that we've coated half with a nanotechnology spray
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0:20 - 0:23that can be applied to almost any material.
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0:23 - 0:25It's called Ultra-Ever Dry,
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0:25 - 0:28and when you apply it to any material,
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0:28 - 0:31it turns into a superhydrophobic shield.
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0:31 - 0:33So this is a cinder block, uncoated,
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0:33 - 0:38and you can see that it's porous, it absorbs water.
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0:38 - 0:40Not anymore.
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0:40 - 0:45Porous, nonporous.
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0:45 - 0:47So what's superhydrophobic?
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0:47 - 0:50Superhydrophobic is how we measure
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0:50 - 0:52a drop of water on a surface.
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0:52 - 0:55The rounder it is, the more hydrophobic it is,
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0:55 - 0:58and if it's really round, it's superhydrophobic.
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0:58 - 1:01A freshly waxed car, the water molecules slump
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1:01 - 1:04to about 90 degrees.
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1:04 - 1:07A windshield coating is going to give you about 110 degrees.
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1:07 - 1:09But what you're seeing here is 160 to 175 degrees,
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1:09 - 1:13and anything over 150 is superhydrophobic.
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1:13 - 1:15So as part of the demonstration,
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1:15 - 1:18what I have is a pair of gloves,
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1:18 - 1:20and we've coated one of the gloves
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1:20 - 1:22with the nanotechnology coating,
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1:22 - 1:24and let's see if you can tell which one,
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1:24 - 1:27and I'll give you a hint.
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1:31 - 1:36Did you guess the one that was dry?
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1:36 - 1:41When you have nanotechnology and nanoscience,
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1:41 - 1:43what's occurred is that we're able to now
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1:43 - 1:46look at atoms and molecules and actually control them
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1:46 - 1:48for great benefits.
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1:48 - 1:50And we're talking really small here.
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1:50 - 1:52The way you measure nanotechnology is in nanometers,
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1:52 - 1:56and one nanometer is a billionth of a meter,
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1:56 - 1:58and to put some scale to that,
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1:58 - 2:01if you had a nanoparticle that was one nanometer thick,
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2:01 - 2:04and you put it side by side, and you had 50,000 of them,
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2:04 - 2:07you'd be the width of a human hair.
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2:07 - 2:10So very small, but very useful.
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2:10 - 2:13And it's not just water that this works with.
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2:13 - 2:16It's a lot of water-based materials like concrete,
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2:16 - 2:18water-based paint,
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2:18 - 2:19mud,
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2:19 - 2:23and also some refined oils as well.
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2:27 - 2:32You can see the difference.
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2:32 - 2:33Moving onto the next demonstration,
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2:33 - 2:35we've taken a pane of glass and we've coated the outside of it,
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2:35 - 2:39we've framed it with the nanotechnology coating,
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2:39 - 2:42and we're going to pour this green-tinted water inside the middle,
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2:42 - 2:44and you're going to see, it's going to spread out on glass
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2:44 - 2:46like you'd normally think it would,
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2:46 - 2:50except when it hits the coating, it stops,
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2:50 - 2:53and I can't even coax it to leave.
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2:53 - 2:55It's that afraid of the water.
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2:55 - 2:59(Applause)
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2:59 - 3:00So what's going on here? What's happening?
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3:00 - 3:04Well, the surface of the spray coating
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3:04 - 3:05is actually filled with nanoparticles
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3:05 - 3:08that form a very rough and craggly surface.
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3:08 - 3:10You'd think it'd be smooth, but it's actually not.
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3:10 - 3:13And it has billions of interstitial spaces,
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3:13 - 3:16and those spaces, along with the nanoparticles,
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3:16 - 3:18reach up and grab the air molecules,
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3:18 - 3:20and cover the surface with air.
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3:20 - 3:23It's an umbrella of air all across it,
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3:23 - 3:26and that layer of air is what the water hits,
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3:26 - 3:29the mud hits, the concrete hits, and it glides right off.
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3:29 - 3:31So if I put this inside this water here,
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3:31 - 3:35you can see a silver reflective coating around it,
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3:35 - 3:36and that silver reflective coating
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3:36 - 3:39is the layer of air that's protecting the water
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3:39 - 3:42from touching the paddle, and it's dry.
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3:45 - 3:48So what are the applications?
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3:48 - 3:50I mean, many of you right now are probably going through your head.
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3:50 - 3:52Everyone that sees this gets excited, and says,
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3:52 - 3:54"Oh, I could use it for this and this and this."
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3:54 - 3:56The applications in a general sense
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3:56 - 3:59could be anything that's anti-wetting.
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3:59 - 4:01We've certainly seen that today.
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4:01 - 4:03It could be anything that's anti-icing,
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4:03 - 4:07because if you don't have water, you don't have ice.
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4:07 - 4:09It could be anti-corrosion.
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4:09 - 4:11No water, no corrosion.
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4:11 - 4:13It could be anti-bacterial.
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4:13 - 4:16Without water, the bacteria won't survive.
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4:16 - 4:20And it could be things that need to be self-cleaning as well.
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4:22 - 4:26So imagine how something like this
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4:26 - 4:30could help revolutionize your field of work.
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4:30 - 4:32And I'm going to leave you with one last demonstration,
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4:32 - 4:35but before I do that, I would like to say thank you,
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4:35 - 4:37and think small.
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4:45 - 4:53(Applause)
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4:53 - 4:57It's going to happen. Wait for it. Wait for it.
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4:57 - 5:02Chris Anderson: You guys didn't hear about us cutting out the Design from TED? (Laughter)
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5:02 - 5:04[Two minutes later...]
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5:04 - 5:06He ran into all sorts of problems in terms of managing the medical research part.
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5:06 - 5:09It's happening!
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5:09 - 5:13(Applause)
- Title:
- One very dry demo
- Speaker:
- Mark Shaw
- Description:
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Mark Shaw demos Ultra-Ever Dry, a liquid-repellent coating that acts as an astonishingly powerful shield against water and water-based materials. At the nano level, the spray covers a surface with an umbrella of air so that water bounces right off. Watch for an exciting two-minute kicker.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 05:31
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for One very dry demo | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for One very dry demo | ||
Thu-Huong Ha accepted English subtitles for One very dry demo | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for One very dry demo | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for One very dry demo | ||
Joseph Geni added a translation |