Nanotech Glass Beads

According to Physorg.com, a "liquid glass" was invented in Turkey that utilizes nanotechnology.

The liquid glass spray (technically termed “SiO2 ultra-thin layering”) consists of almost pure silicon dioxide (silica, the normal compound in glass) extracted from quartz sand. Water or ethanol is added, depending on the type of surface to be coated. There are no additives, and the nano-scale glass coating bonds to the surface because of the quantum forces involved. According to the manufacturers, liquid glass has a long-lasting antibacterial effect because microbes landing on the surface cannot divide or replicate easily.

If this technology works as stated in the blurb, then the inventor has lovered the viscosity of the glass suspension by making the beads on the nanoscale.  This coating allows surfaces to be cleaned with hot water and has widespread applications.
Hat tip:  Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish

Would you like ketchup with that?

Heinz has re-designed the ketchup packet.  Called the Dip & Squeeze (TM), the new packet "gives you pinpoint accuracy.  So you can put delicious Heinz ketchup exactly where you want it."  It was the poor performance of ketchup in the original packet that led to this redesign.
(The original packet was introduced in 1968.)
Ketchup is a fascinating rheological fluid.  It is pseudoplastic (shear thinning), thixotropic, and has a yield stress.  My first fluid mechanics professor used ketchup as an example when discussing non-Newtonian behavior. 

Here are some rheological data on ketchup, generated by the Rheo Thing blog.

Hat tip: The Associated Press

Disclosure: I work for ConAgra Foods, which makes and sells Hunt's ketchup.  Hunt's is the #2 brand behind Heinz in the United States.

Jobs Report (February)

On January 2, a keyword "rheolog*" search on Monster.com found 44 jobs listed. 26 positions are from a medical devices company located in New Jersey. ( If anyone knows which company is advertising all these positions, put it in the comments or send me an email.)  MRI Network is the recruiting company looking for all these people.

The chart below shows the number of jobs found using this search over the past 6 months.

This chart reminds me of one of my job hunts.  I'd started in the fall and did not receive any responses until January, when I suddenly had three interviews after 4-5 months of spinning my wheels.

Food Processing Issue 2: Finding the solution

Did everyone do his or her homework?  Then let's get started...

Food Processing Issue 1: The problem

Some time ago, I received an email asking about the day-to-day life of an industrial rheologist.  I started to write some boilerplate description of my job (the sort of thing one would tell a relative or new professional colleague), but it was so boring that I stopped writing it halfway through. 
As a substitute, I've found a real-life food processing problem.  I'll give the readers a chance to listen to the problem and then post a discussion of the solution on Monday, Feb 1st.
To listen to the problem, go to this broadcast of the public radio show This American Life.  Click on the icon marked "Full Episode" and forward the program to 34:16 (Act 14), and you'll hear about The Vienna Beef Company and their new hot dog plant.  (I think the whole episode is worth hearing, but you'll only need five minutes to hear the problem and solution.)

Quotation of the Moment

I enjoyed this comment from Conan O'Brien that he made during his final show last Friday.

All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.

The bottle battle: McDonald's versus Burger King

In a previous post, I showed a picture of the Burger King milk bottle.

For comparison, here is the McDonald's milk bottle

(Photo courtesy of Paxton Holley's flickr page)

I think the McDonald's jug is a better design.  The center of gravity is lower, it has a base with a larger diameter, and it's harder to tip the bottle over.

MR Fluid Links

• Lord Corporation's intro to MR fluids
• Lord Corp's discussion of MR shock absorbers for cars
• Wikipedia's entry on MR fluids
• Liquid body armor

Preventing that crying over spilled milk

While on a holiday trip, we stopped at a Burger King.  We purchased milk for the kids, and a bottle is shown below.

One of the kids tipped over the bottle and the milk started to pour onto the floor.  I immediately reached for the bottle to stop the spill.  This was a mistake for two reasons: first, the act of righting the milk spilled more on the floor, and second, most restaurants replace spilled beverages for free.

I would imagine, that in 50-100 years, some beverages will be "spill-proof" and prevent such accidents.  Once a bottle is tipped over, some trigger will lock up a fluid.  The only current technologies that would "freeze" a liquid and prevent it from leaving the bottle are magetorheological (MR) fluids or electrorheological (ER) fluids.  It's not possible to use MR or ER technology right now, since those materials are not fit for consumption.

Jobs Report (January)

On January 2, a keyword "rheolog*" search on Monster.com found 24 jobs listed.  The majority of jobs appear to be with a medical devices company, which is looking for several people.  In fact, some of the jobs may be listed more than once.
In terms of experience, the requirements are as follows...

• None specified - 2
• Less than 1 year experience - 1
• Two years experience - 5
• Three years experience - 2
• Five years experience - 10
• Seven years experience - 2
• Ten years experience - 2

One of the jobs listed is at ConAgra Foods, which is my employer.  This job is in a different department where I work, and the rheological experience requested is in the grain area.