While watching the Gadget Show on channel Five (15th December 2008) the presenters, Dallas Campbell and Jason Bradbury, had a look at future technologies and what we could expect to see in the shops in the future, one of the technologies that caught my eye was Ion-Mask, a technology that could potentially render many of our every day items completely impermeable to water. The Ion-Mask technology works by using a chemical based on the element fluorine which when placed in a closed chamber, vaporises and attaches itself, molecule by molecule, to the material. Watching the Gadget Show article and others on You Tube shows that Ion-Mask could be applied to virtually any object!
I see this as a potentially interesting technology for eye wear of all kinds, from prescription glasses, sunglasses, swimming goggles, safety goggles, and even visors for crash helmets! Could this allow glasses to be worn outside in the rain or in environments where they are prone to misting without ever fogging up/requiring a wipe? Could swimming goggles and diving masks remain mist free whilst underwater giving swimmers and divers crystal clear vision? And how about crash helmet visors, this technology would give every day motorcyclists to Formula 1 drivers a totally clear view of the road during light or heavy rain showers at day or night, any rain droplets coming into contact with the visor would simply bead off. This certainly could be an interesting new technology for the eye wear industry!
For more information about this exciting new technology and what applications it could be used for, please take a look at the videos.
Source: Gadget Show, Five TV – 2008. Click here to watch the Gadget Show article.
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