Asklemmy @lemmy.ml turnerpike20 @lemmy.ml 3mo ago

What would happen if you spray a bucket with hydrophobic spray and put water in it?

So like really trying to force water around it the water would have no where to go what would happen?

39 comments

I desperately want to know what you were imagining might happen when you asked this question.
- A hovering blobb of liquid, equidistant from each wall, most likely.
  
  That's basically what you get, but the distance from each wall is about an atom thick.
  
  Not a blobb, an orb
  
  Like magnets
  
  Or maybe explosive splashing.
- The long awaited invention of anti-gravity.
- The bucket would be dry.
Basically, the water would be held inside the bucket in the shape of the bucket without getting the bucket wet, because the hydrophobic coating would prevent the water from touching the bucket, however the water would still touch the hydrophobic coating, it just will not stick to the hydrophobic coating.
Well the bucket would get very scared.
- hydrophobia is no laughing matter. 😂
  
  well then, why are you laughing?!
You ever use a paper cup? That's basically what they are.
Eh nothing interesting. The water would be in the bucket but pool and bead much quicker, instead of spreading and getting the bucket 'wet'. Kind of like a hydrophobic windshield coating.
A black hole would open up, don't do it
- I thought that only happened if you put a hydrophobic bucket inside a hydrophobic portable hole.
- Not until you know the Seventh Symbol
  
  Eight chevron locked— we’re going to Pegasus!
- black hole... sun...?
  
  A black hole having the mass of the sund would have a Schwarzschild radius of circa 3 kilometers.
The water sits in it, but only where gravity holds it. There would be a very pronounced meniscus at the top. That is, if you looked closely the water would dip down really far at the edges before it meets the bucket.

It's not that hydrophobic substances can't touch water, it's that the force of surface tension will oppose it. Unless you're an ant, surface tension isn't that impressive vs. most other forces.

Edit: If you have an ant-sized bucket, the water may sit on top of it as a droplet rather than going in.
Do... you think a coating repels water a foot away like some sort of anti-water magnet...?
Like, on the inside of the bucket? It'll still hold water like normal.
- However if you put it on the outside of the bucket nothing changes at all and this comment is a pointless thief of your time and attention. Sorry.
Don't listen to the jeering goons, OP. Keep asking questions. 🤜🤛
What would happen if you lather yourself in soap so you're really slippery and then you sit in a bath?

Actually you'd probably hurt yourself getting into the bath so maybe don't try this.
- I think with a jump and just the right angle of entry you can probably slide down the sloping face ...and probably end up with two broken legs and a tap half-way up your asshole.
  
  Maybe I've been watching too much Looney tunes
- I think some of us admit to doing this as kids.
Pretty sure you’d get one big bead of water. Something much more interesting are superfluids.
Basically the same thing as when you fill a non-stick pan with water. Hydrophobic coatings only repel water in a way so that it doesn't stick to the surface. That's why they use hydrophobic coatings on windshields, so the droplets of water slide easily and quickly.

Granted, the effect is more noticeable with hydrophobic coating than with non-stick coating, but if you were expecting the water to visibly float away from the walls, that won't happen with either. Reality is sometimes disappointing, huh?
I'm not sure about the bucket but here's what happens if you jump in a pool covered in hydrophobic stuff.
The water disappears
makes me want to spray some in a urinal
It'll stay empty of course. If make a big enough bucket to stand in and you could go deep sea diving without an airtank.
What would happen if you sprayed your body with hydrophobic spray and then went down a slip-n-slide?
- Probably something like that scene in Christmas Vacation where Chevy Chase sprays nonstick on the bottom of his metal disc sled thingy
Made me think of the LiquiGlide ketchup video from a few years ago.

Did this stuff ever get used anywhere or just vaporware?

39 comments