Swiss nanotech = never wet your pants

25. November 2008 by admin.

Some things are just mind-bending when you think of them. For instance, "I always tell the truth.  I’m lying."  Here’s another one: clothes that, even when submerged for 2 MONTHS IN WATER, don’t get wet. 

How is it possible for clothes to always stay dry? Through the use of nanotechnology.  Not content bringing us good, expensive chocolate and expensive watches, the Swiss have now given us clothes that, some day, you won’t be able to spill soup on no matter how hard you try.

Here’s an extract of an article about this from NewScientist:

If you were to soak even your best raincoat underwater for two months it would be wet though at the end of the experience. But a new waterproof material developed by Swiss chemists would be as dry as the day it went in.

Lead researcher Stefan Seeger at the University of Zurich says the fabric, made from polyester fibres coated with millions of tiny silicone filaments, is the most water-repellent clothing-appropriate material ever created.

Drops of water stay as spherical balls on top of the fabric (see image, right) and a sheet of the material need only be tilted by 2 degrees from horizontal for them to roll off like marbles. A jet of water bounces off the fabric without leaving a trace (see second image).

You can read the rest here.

What will they think of of next? How about food that tastes great going down but doesn’t actually break down into fatty substances in your bloodstream?

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