Technology

59422 readers

3183 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

Morphing spray-on gel gives buildings long-lasting wildfire protection (newatlas.com)

submitted 2 months ago by karashta@lemm.ee to c/technology@lemmy.world

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The researchers also say that current fire-resisting gels dry out and become useless about 45 minutes after being applied. With their new material however, because the silica aerogel stays behind until it is washed away, the coating could be applied well in advance of an approaching wildfire while still providing protection when the flames arrive

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 34 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Appel also points out that his gels are environmentally friendly, and composed only of materials that are already approved for use by the US Forestry Service. When eventually washed off, the aerogel is handily broken down by soil microbes.

What a neat discovery. It's something you can potentially spray on things to protect them and it just washes. I'm guessing it's harder to manage once it gets cooked so to speak.

[–] punkwalrus@lemmy.world 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

When eventually washed off, the aerogel is handily broken down by soil microbes.

I am not going to claim to be an expert on any of this BUT that wording sounds suspiciously like bullshit. Maybe it's not, but it's one of those phrases that sounds like when vitamin companies claim that more B12 has shown to fix whatever ails you. Or "our plastic is environmentally friendly: 100% recyclable, and breaks down into teeny micro-particles over time, and gets absorbed by the sea life like ordinary sand..."

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I am also definitely not coming into this with any expertise, but reading the linked paper about it looks at least somewhat promising to me. The ingredients are silica (sand) and a couple of cellulose derivatives (cellulose being what plants are mostly made of)

[–] akwd169@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 months ago

Yes exactly:

the cellulose polymers in these systems are plant-derived, biocompatible, and biodegradable

load more comments (1 replies)