here's the article (http://www.msnbc.com/news/958053.asp) msnbc. it is all about regulating the water apparently. discuss!

IF that is indeed it, then it will be quite interesting to see. Silk is stronger and lighter than most everything used for manufactur. Imagine silk rops for pretty much anthing with more than 3 times the tensile strengh of steel, yet thinner, lighter and more flexible? Body armor would be full body, flexible and stil stronger than carbon, etc.

Silk is good :D

I've always imagined an all silk body car but that would be quite susceptible to fire correct?

Originally posted by PoLaK
I've always imagined an all silk body car but that would be quite susceptible to fire correct?

who says it had to be 100% silk?? there are lots of different ways material scientists can control these sorts of things, especially with such a pliant material. weaving is good.

i wonder how thick or thin they would be able to grow these fibres?? i also wonder what this will do to the price of silk underwear (which isn't a cheap gift for a g/f when you're 18-20 years old :p)?? hmmm... very cool Chuck, thanks :D

i also wonder what this will do to the price of silk underwear (which isn't a cheap gift for a g/f when you're 18-20 years old )??

Hey now that works both ways I got a pair of silk boxers from my G/F from Disney world. They have Daffy Duck on them; they feel so good and unrestricting. I value them so much I only wear them on "special occasions".

Hehe. As a materials scientist I can tell you there are a lot of things that can be done to change existing materials. However there are also some natural limitations to materials that puts a limit on what is possible.

Silk may be very light and strong, but that is only in tension. What I mean by that is you can take a silk strand and pull at both ends and it is hard to break. However, if you take a straight piece of silk and *push* at both ends, then it has virtually no strength. This is the kind of thing that has to be designed around. They can make cars almost purely out of kevlar or carbon fibres, for example... but such things get prohibitively expensive, and there is such a thing as too light of a car when it comes to safety.

Either way, here's to silk seats in the near future!

Originally posted by aussie77
there is such a thing as too light of a car when it comes to safety.


...i don't want this to get onto a different tanget, but:

"...not when all the other cars are light too."

Originally posted by wakeech


... very cool Chuck, thanks :D

no probs Andrew i was thinking of you when i first read the article. i knew you'd dig it.

and yeah we wouldn't want a thread here to deviate from it's intended path, especially not one of mine:o ;)

"STAY ON TARGET!"(who knows where that line comes from?)

On a slightly related topic, they have finally been able to manufactor large diamonds for much cheaper then mining (which prices are controlled by a cartel). This is expected to revolutionize the computer chip industry, as diamond chips can run much hotter then silicon.. expect 100+ghz cpu's in 10 years.


http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html