Nerd Moment: New Waterproofing Advancements Could Put Gortex to Shame

Engineers from MIT have developed a new material which has smashed through the theoretical limit of 'contact time', a measurement basic to waterproofing assessment.

For the layman, 'contact time' is the time that water takes to bounce off the surface of a hydrophobic material (AKA: material that HATES water). These fancy pants researchers have cut that time down by at least 40 percent – which essentially means that when this is applied to outerwear (because it's only a question of time, really), you will stay a hell of a lot drier.

Kripa Varanasi, the Doherty Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and co -author of the study comments that, "The time that the drop stays in contact with a surface is important because it controls the exchange of mass, momentum, and energy between the drop and the surface. If you can get the drops to bounce faster, that can have many advantages."

So just how have these sexy scientists performed this miracle? Inspired by the nasturtium leaf and the wings of butterflies, the researchers experimented with adding ridges to various surfaces in order to split the water droplets in irregular patterns as they recoil – resulting in dramatically shorter contact times. They hope to reduce the duration by a further 70 to 80 percent.

Not only could this mean a revolution in outwear, but the technology could be used for everything from tents to airplane engines to wind turbines. Vive la Science!

See the following video provided by MIT for the real good stuff:

Article summarized from a BBC report which can be found here: www.bbc.co.uk