Questions tagged [materials]

9 questions
55
votes
1 answer

Is Starlite a hoax?

About 40 years ago, Maurice Ward, a hairdresser and amateur chemist, developed a plastic that was said to be resistant to extreme heat. Able to withstand a laser beam that could produce a temperature of 10,000 Celsius. He called it Starlite. The…
Quaxton Hale
  • 653
  • 1
  • 5
  • 7
54
votes
1 answer

Was this 'carbon fibre' bicycle rim destroyed by a parrot?

This photograph was circulating on social media on 20th November 2021 (Click image to enlarge) It was widely described as a carbon wheel that had been destroyed by a parrot. e.g. Cycling Tips (Archived link, since the article has now been…
thelawnet
  • 5,221
  • 3
  • 27
  • 31
24
votes
2 answers

Is spider silk stronger than steel?

Source: CBS NEWS . "If you look in a spider web, if you just took one single strand of that spider silk, that strand is stronger than steel as well - a lot like Kevlar," said Mr Tucker Norton, a ballistics expert at duPont. I'm skeptical of this…
Carlo Alterego
  • 3,963
  • 4
  • 29
  • 77
20
votes
2 answers

Can only real diamonds scratch glass?

In movies there seems to be an easy method to find out if a diamond is real or fake: If a diamond is able to scratch/cut glass, then it's the real deal But does that simple test work in real life? Are fake diamonds generally not able to scratch…
Oliver_C
  • 47,851
  • 18
  • 213
  • 208
13
votes
1 answer

Did Canadian company HyperStealth invent an invisibility cloak?

This seemingly legitimate camouflage design company says it invented an invisibility cloak called Quantum Stealth that works by bending light "without cameras, batteries, lights or mirrors." http://www.hyperstealth.com/Quantum-Stealth/index.html But…
Max
  • 1,144
  • 1
  • 8
  • 12
10
votes
1 answer

Did ancient Peru use electroplating?

Wikipedia states that ancient Peruvian metalsmiths applied gold with electroplating, citing a 1979 article in The Journal of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society. I'm not familiar enough with this journal or academia to assess whether the claim…
user3150
9
votes
1 answer

Will homemade facemasks using vacuum bag filters cause lung irritation?

In this YouTube video A Doctor Explains How to Make the Safest Face Mask, a doctor, and then his wife, talk about 'the safest' home-made face mask. (He disclaims that it has been tested, but says he is confident it is safe.) This mask was made with…
I likeThatMeow
  • 265
  • 1
  • 17
7
votes
1 answer

Does Heattech clothing generate heat?

Uniqlo sells HEATTECH heat-generating clothing. When HEATTECH absorbs body moisture, tiny droplets generate heat. Thermographs clearly show that HEATTECH maintains more warmth, more evenly over your body, than 100% cotton. Is this just a…
Chloe
  • 2,368
  • 2
  • 20
  • 26
1
vote
0 answers

Does a carpet made from wool have better acoustic properties than a synthetic carpet?

This PDF document is claiming the following: Wool carpets may have some advantages over nylon carpets in this respect, particularly for low frequency noise, as is demonstrated in Figure 1. Is this indeed true? Will 2 carpets that differ…
BaGi
  • 1,275
  • 3
  • 12
  • 24