WATERPROOFING: THE UNKNOWN ART
From the beginning of the universe, we have worked to protect ourselves from the very element that keeps us alive….water. We hate it also love it. With water covering 75% of the earth’s surface, it’s no wonder we struggle to stay dry as well as safe. We fight against heavy storm, tsunamis, floods with state of the art roofing, wraps, traps, tunnels, clothing, boats, and much more…. devising extreme tests to probe the limits of our modern waterproof technology.
It wasn’t long after Henry Ford figured out how to mass-produce automobiles and just after that people started applying wax to their cars. “Simoniz” named after the founder George Simons began mass production of car wax in 1911. And now one can find the meaning of Simoniz in the dictionary as a thing to shine or polish to a high sheen, especially with wax.
But after all, it was the science that made it all possible as the wax molecules behave, one end of molecule sticks to the paint and at the other end the water does not stick to it hence the paint gets protected. But the major problem with wax was that it does not last more than few months hence the car owners have to apply it from months to months.
But to find things which can protect the cars for years Simoniz find the solution in the form of a “Glass Coat” or called “Anti-wax” which can last long for so many years. After conducting endless experiments it was finally found where the key ingredient was a chemical compound called polyclise as its waterproof properties make it an effective element from coating bridges to solar panels and tiles on NASA space shuttle.
Glass coat takes the useful properties of polyclise into the world of cars and protects the car for a long period of time from tress, bird waste, and insects. It is made from silicon molecules and when nitrogen reacts with water vapors it catalyzed a bond between silicon and oxygen. When silicon and oxygen come together it from a super hard glass which acts as an effective barrier to protect the cars from car wash to rain.
It was a time of 1955 when America was facing a huge war with Vietnam and all the soldiers were not only fighting with enemies but also humidity and temperature were invisible enemies killing them more than the enemies hand and whenever the soldiers break his hand or leg or get injured fixing them was a huge problem as humidity is not allowing the solution to get dry and fixed the hand and to deal with it scientist back in America were trying to invent such waterproofing technology that can not only fix hands but settle or dry quickly within minutes.
In order to create such things a scientist created a formula with silicon and polyester molecules and at high pressure installed it in a can with a hope that this liquid when sprayed on the human body will get solid within seconds and the hand can be fixed but when he experimented it he was shocked or maybe say surprised as the thing which he sprayed was in form of solid but it was like a rope and instead of hard it was soft and by seeing this he became sad and sit down on his chair and started spraying the spray all around and then suddenly he found it funny and this led to the invention of snow spray which became a favorite toy of all including elders and children and everyone in this difficult time found a way to smile back which made us realize not all invention found their way for which we are trying to create it.
Later the solution name pop (plaster of Paris) was made which became the most successful solution ever developed for fixing broken hands or leg all around the globe.
Another application where we need the waterproofing technology at most is submarines as if there is a single tiny hole present then it itself can destroy full submarine as deeper the submarine goes water pressure increases hence submarine needs to be waterproof. The most vulnerable point of a submarine is the entry point from where we can enter into the inner deck and make it waterproof it is developed in such a way that it consists of 2 hulls, one inside the other, to help them survive. The outer hull is waterproof, while the inner one is called the pressure hull and is much stronger and resistant to immense water pressure. The component which is mainly used to manufacture hulls is made from titanium and not only this a rubber insulating layer is present in between them which creates a seal from where the water can’t enter in case if outer hull fails.
Another most fascinating thing which we can found around us is that our human body is too waterproof ….. which can allow us to swim, to enjoy the rain as well as to bath daily but then also we need cloths/raincoats which can protect us from heavy rain or hypothermia if we visit in high mountain ranges or places with high rainfall. The material which we used to make raincoats are either laminated cotton or nylon polyester maybe you are confused about how laminated cotton is used as it the one which soaks the water fast but not only does it protect us from water but also it is breathable.
Also, we have recently started studying animals which leave in water to understand how their body structure is made waterproof and how we can use it to make the best waterproofing materials by improving the molecular structure and making them easy to breathe not only this the space suits used by astronauts are made from heavy material and consist of too many layers allowing them to breathe easily in space and protecting them from other harmful gases also the same technology is used by the scientist who works in the radioactive environment to protect themselves from radioactive elements.
An effective waterproofing technology must need to be durable both during and after manufacturing also it needs to be robust and durable for the life of the structure which can be possible if we find another or new solutions as they will not only help us to improve existing technology but will also start a chain reaction which can be helpful in near future also simoniz gives us the great example where how they improve their existing solution and created a new one which not only lasted longer but was far better than previous one. Also, it needs to be powerful as lives are at stake in some of the applications like submarines.
