The Orange Goo That Could Save Your Laptop 285
Barence writes "A British company has patented what can only be described as an orange goo that could save your laptop or iPod after a nasty fall. The amazing material is soft and malleable like putty, but the substance becomes solid instantly after impact. You can punch your fist into a ball of the material sitting on a desk and not feel a thing, according to the staff at PC Pro who have been testing the material, called 3do. It's being used by the military, the US downhill ski team, and motorcycle clothing manufacturers to provide impact protection in the event of a crash. However, it's also appearing in protective cases for laptops and MP3 players."
typo, as seen on tv (Score:1, Informative)
First of, it's 3do (three-dee-oh): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D3o [wikipedia.org]
3DO was a video game company and console: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_3DO_Company [wikipedia.org]
This product, as applied to laptop cases, was recently pitched on Dragon's Den (BBC): http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/entrepreneurs/jasonroberts.shtml [bbc.co.uk]
just need orange food coloring.. (Score:2, Informative)
http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Magic_mud
Re:typo, as seen on tv (Score:5, Informative)
First of, it's 3do (three-dee-oh): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D3o [wikipedia.org]
Sorry, but it's d3o [d3o.com]!
Old News (Score:5, Informative)
14 September 2006
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EBWGbhsuws [youtube.com]
Re:I don't get it.. (Score:5, Informative)
Presumably the energy is absorbed by it turning solid. Similar in principle (in vague terms) to how the bonnet of a car (hood to USA people) is designed to crumple so that it absorbs the energy of a crash. Afterwards the bonnet is more condensed - harder - but the energy went into making it so, rather than getting transferred on to the rest of the car and the passengers.
Well the front of normal cars is designed to do that. SUVs are designed to kill people.
Tech21 iBand tested on video (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I don't get it.. (Score:5, Informative)
This video has a great example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JceDaEMIHKE&feature=related [youtube.com]
They use a cap with the material to protect a watermelon from impact with a hammer. With a normal squishy material you'd need a really thick layer to soften a blow like that and a hard material would restrict movement.
It's a kind of best of both worlds solution.
Re:Silly Putty? (Score:5, Informative)
My guess is they somehow increased the stiffness of it at the low-velocity stage.
Re:I'm a little bit skeptical. (Score:1, Informative)
If the padding is an eighth of an inch thick, it will provide, at most, an eighth of an inch of extra speed reduction.
Speed reduction is not measured in inches.
The idea is that the "impulse" (the change in momentum) is spread out more evenly over the eighth of an inch, so that the maximum force *at any single point in time* is reduced.
ThinkGeek has this? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Old News (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I don't get it.. (Score:5, Informative)
Well... we all know what's in this stuff don't we ? It's custard (possibly with some orange food colorant).
The behavior described here is identical to that exhibited by custard and other liquids with low viscosity but high surface tension. The effect is that low velocity impacts are passed through easily but high velocity impact causes the surface tension to rapidly increase and prevents entry. To put it bluntly, you can run over a swimming pool full of custard, but you can't walk over one (brainiac did an episode on it, though they could have done a better job of explaining the theory about why it works that way - wikipedia is your friend here - as per their usual script, they were mostly interested in the fun-value of a swimming pool full of custard... the test subject did indeed run over it until he got to the middle, was told to stop... and then sank).
Now I'm sure it's not actually custard in this goo (well, fairly sure) but the phenomenon is certainly not new and has been known for a while. What seems new is that this is a much lower liquidity and viscosity than most of these substances (it appears to be at the level of clay or playdough rather than a flowing liquid) - which clearly makes for a whole new range of practical applications, since it won't soak into things or leak, you can make things like laptop protective cases lined with the stuff which would be impractical with custard....
Re:cool stuff, but not for this purpose (Score:3, Informative)
To be clear, I meant IBM invented/introduced it before apple started buying hard disks featuring the tech.
are we sure (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Oblig. Quotation: (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I don't get it.. (Score:3, Informative)
It sounds a little bit like what you get when you mix cornstarch and water. If you press it slowly, your finger sinks right in as if it's liquid, if you hit it hard, it's solid.
Laptop hard drives have active drive protection (Score:5, Informative)
Re:cool stuff, but not for this purpose (Score:4, Informative)
Hard Drive Active Protection System; around in ThinkPads since about 2003.
Sudden Motion Sensor; Macbooks since 2005.
Re:Ringworld (Score:3, Informative)
Impact armor was in Ringworld Engineers, not Ringworld.
Re:I don't get it.. (Score:4, Informative)
SUV's only roll over due to stupid drivers. you really have to make a sharp fast turn to roll an SUV. Like 90 turn at 50mph.
The biggest probleem is that the average driver can't adjust their driving depending on the type of vehicle. Going from sports car to SUV is very different. They don't handle the same.
Re:I don't get it.. (Score:4, Informative)
My SUV is designed so that it's frame doesn't distort when pulling with a winch. A side effect of that is that it has a rigid frame. Too bad for me, but its a decision I made when selecting it.
Rigid under tension is not the same as rigid under compression. Most SUV's are designed with hardened points for towing (tension) but they still have crush zones for accidents (compression). In fact, because of the size, the crush zones in an SUV are often larger and more effective than those in a smaller car.
Overall, you are safer in an accident when you are in an SUV than when you are in a smaller car. Of course, this does vary according to the type of accident and overall safety design of the vehicle. You also have to factor in that SUV's are more susceptible to some kinds of accidents than other cars.