Mark Shaw: One Dry Demo

The above TED talk isn't bad, though it does sort of make Mark Shaw, the co-president of UltraTech (according to this page on their site), look a little nervous throughout. He should relax, though, because he's got a heck of a product: Ultra Ever Dry. The coating creates a superhydrophobic surface (check 1:15 in the above video for a scientific explanation of what superhydrophobic means) that's apparently also oleophobic, meaning that the coating will repel water and oil, a pretty spectacular combination.

The first video below shows the coating in action with the best payoff (for me, anyway) being the green square of liquid on the glass (shown above at 2:50 but in much higher resolution below). Seriously, many of the demonstrations go so far against what I expect water to do that they look almost like bad computer animation, actions that my brain openly repels against.

I have to get some of the coating for myself to test. If only the coating wasn't about $200 for their smallest size can (plus spray bottles to apply).

I do wonder whether the final demonstration - the one with the TED sign - was tested first. It's a a great demo, but the timing is disappointing.