Observing Paint Dry Is Science

Researchers from Surrey and Lyon proved that observing paint dry is science.

(Mirror Daily, United States) – The scientific community never ceases to amaze. After spending moths scaring raccoons, the members of the community now revealed that observing paint dry is science as a team or researchers studied the timeline of paint drying. Of course, the effort was not in vain, and they discovered that the drying comes with an automated layering response. But still, observing paint dry is science.

According to a team of scientists at Surrey University, who spend some time studying the molecular transformation of paint during the drying process, as the change occurs, the smaller particles gather around each other, moving away from the larger ones.

The team-up of the particles according to size leads to a self-layering process. This means that as we apply paint to a wall, the first coat is already layered by the physical mechanism that separates particles according to their size.

Even though you never have guessed before, observing paint dry is science, and when done correctly, technological and pharmaceutical innovations could come out of it.

The members of the team declared that there are countless applications for their discovery. For example, sunscreens could be better designed in the future.

Now that the self-layering process has been discovered, pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies who develop sunscreen lotions could work on creating better products. The particles that offer UV protection could be fabricated to be a bit bigger than those meant to make the cream better adhere to the skin.

In consequence, the cream will offer better protection because the top layer will ensure UV protection and the bottom will make the lotion better stick to the skin of the person using it.

Other applications of the discovery could be found in the technology department, notably in the protective layers on the screen of tablets or smartphones. And, of course, factories could profit from the work of the patient scientists and develop more efficient paints and adhesives.

But the Surrey University scientists cannot take all of the credit for the discovery. The researchers teamed up with their peers from the Claude Bernard University in Lyon.

In order to obtain their results, the researchers used material experiments and computer simulations. After observing a wide variety of paint going through the drying process, they concluded that all such materials behave in the same way.

While hardening and drying, the paint coating almost spontaneously structures itself in two layers. And we know that because observing paint dry is science.

Image source: www.wikimedia.org

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Tara Hamilton

Tara has graduated from the University of Oregon, with bachelors degree in Spanish Literature in 2010. She lived in Miami for one year and travelled extensively before settling down in El Paso.