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April 01, 2007
The forever clear windshield
I continue to get little frissons of wonder every time that I read about yet another wondrous new material with some sort of amazing property. (And believe me, if you read the nanotechnology and materials science news like I do, you know that new materials are appearing practically every day).
The latest material is a polymer coating that's the holy grail for drivers...a windshield coating that make it impossible for the window to fog up AND makes it impossible for most types of dirt to stick to the window. The coating keeps water on the windshield from beading up (at the microscopic level the fog on windshields is made up of tiny water beads), while it forces oil-based substances (like many types of windshield dirt) to bead up, allowing it to be easily wiped or flushed off.
What makes this so odd is that normally water wants to bead up on glass and oil wants to form a thin even film. Here the exact opposite behavior happens. Weird and cool.
(Thanks Technology Review)
Posted by Chris Spurgeon at April 1, 2007 09:25 PM
Comments
what do you know about and "add on" from Honda that they apply to the outside of the windshield, claim it reduces chance of cracking, chipping, scratching, and reduces night glare, they charge $499 for it.
Posted by: tgash at June 21, 2007 03:37 AM