DEMO KIT 11 01 2013

If you're ever wondering what to get your friendly neighborhood Materials Witness blogger for his birthday (April 28th if you were curious), a demo kit of d3o would be the perfect gift.

Sadly, I haven't been able to find one on ebay, and the d3o website is less than helpful toward educators and students...

Due to an extremely high number of enquiries, we are unable to respond to requests from students, schools, or universities. We are also unable to supply samples of any D3O materials (or “goo”).

A bunch of d3o videos

I haven't the foggiest idea what you need to do to be safe on a motorcycle. I guess my first step would be to not get on the motorcycle, but that's your call.

The above video goes through the advantages and disadvantages of the various materials used to provide protection in a motorcycle jacket: silicon (1:09), thermoplastics (1:40 - though the description of thermoplastics leaves something to be desired), foam (2:32), and viscoelastic materials (3:27) like d3o (SAS Tec, TFArmor, APS Air [though I think that's basically an airbag]- other brands he mentions).

The host's description of d3o is, however, outstanding. He does mention 'grade three' which is a giveaway that he's Canadian.

10 mind-blowing man-made materials

Admit it, you're every bit as susceptible to list videos (and internet posts) as I am.

We all must be, otherwise we'd probably lose a third of the internet and be left with just cat videos and pictures of pretty people.

This video is severely lacking in detail for each of the "ten mind-blowing man-made materials", but it would be a great starting point to get your class thinking about the Materials Choice Award.