I was thinking, since the inside of the tip of the condom and the outside of the shaft shouldn't ever come in contact, couldn't you have a chemical on the inside and a chemical on the outside that when they come in contact make a really bright and unusual color. Use safe chemicals obviously, make them part of the lube formula or something.
The benefit is that if you see an odd color when you open the wrapper, you know not to use that one. Also, after the act, a glance would reasure that everything probably stayed intact, or otherwise alert you to the need for a morning after pill.-- gomer, Jul 26 2008 Los Alamos Laboratory http://books.google...GTS0ADwpWQ#PPA65,M1This is a Google Books link. This was solved with gloves, [mylodon, Jul 29 2008] The Gates foundation may be interested http://www.popsci.c...e-condoms-dont-suck [theircompetitor, Mar 23 2013] The act of donning the condom could put one's fingers on the inside, and any subsequent touching of the condom or its destination could spread around the chemical, causing a false positive.-- Voice, Jul 28 2008 How about a chemical on the outside that colours when in contact with a specific molecule in semen . I suppose sticky fingers would still apply . Maybe a certain quantity needed approach .-- wjt, Jul 28 2008 why not devise a better system to ensure proper quality before packing the condom in the wrapper!?-- vedarshi, Jul 28 2008 good one gomes. This makes sense. Using a component of the lube for the system makes sense too. I am not sure how many layers of rubber go into a condom. If there are 3, the central layer is the place to hide the chemicals.-- bungston, Jul 28 2008 Yay my first croissant! Yeah the idea of using something that changed colors in the presence of semen makes a lot of sense to me too. Good suggestion wjt. Maybe combining this with one of the other condom ideas would help with the 'sticky fingers' false positive issue by making it easier to put on correctly the first time without exposing the sides to each other.-- gomer, Jul 28 2008 //Yay my first croissant!// Wrong! Try croissant and a œ. [+]-- Klaatu, Jul 29 2008 Great annotations! What if it gets damaged during the act? Probably the best way would be to withdraw at regular intervals & check for the specific color. To hell with the frustration!-- vedarshi, Jul 29 2008 Using electrical resistance testing, alarms and lights can be triggered during a puncture of layered surfaces. See link.-- mylodon, Jul 29 2008 Cool link mylodon, that could definitely be applied to this. Bringing the digital multimeter to bed with us might be less than sexy... (my opinion, but you can do whatever tickles your fancy) but it would sure serve the purpose of telling whether the condom was intact or not. Maybe a really tiny conformal flexible circuit in the base ring with a micro-battery and a micro-LED for red/green status indication.
(The circuit and micro-led idea spurs a random sub-idea, christmas tree light condoms, rave-condoms, disco-condoms....)-- gomer, Jul 29 2008 //Using electrical resistance testing, alarms and lights can be triggered during a puncture of layered surfaces. See link// [mylodon] If you post the idea separately, you would get a [+] from me.-- vedarshi, Jul 30 2008 this is a great idea my only concern is isnt it hard to put a condom on without worrying about that dreaded green color-- yuridasuks, Jul 30 2008 // isnt it hard to put a condom on without worrying about that dreaded green color //
Yeah I was wondering about the marketing aspect of this a little too, since users would associate this product with its failure case. I guess it should be marketed towards those who are worried more about the consequences of it failing, and this could actually be reassuring. I'm sure this isn't what most people want to be thinking about this when they're using a condom.-- gomer, Jul 31 2008 A leak detecting device inserted vaginally might be able to accommodate an LED and perhaps a small buzzer, and be re-usable.-- Noexit, Jul 31 2008 How about a lubricant inside the condom which reacts chemically with the normally acidic vaginal fluids? It could produce a bright colour, a stinging sensation, or a small explosion to alert the users to the problem.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 23 2013 Seemingly a good idea except that many condoms already are outrageous colours, so the colours would have to be chosen carefully. ( I only know about the crazy colours because I work in a college health center and we give them out to the students.) just sayin'-- xandram, Mar 23 2013 //How about a chemical that causes a burning/itching sensation if it leaks/breaks? Seems a tad more apropos. — 21 Quest, Mar 23 2013//
I was thinking the same thing. You could put a herpes culture between the layers.-- Kansan101, Mar 23 2013 random, halfbakery