You just got home from a long, hard day at work. The boss has been riding your tail and all you want is to flop on your bed and pass right out. You kick off your shoes and fall gracelessly into your expensive fancy waterbed, which subsequently moves for ten minutes.
[Enter the Non-Newtonian Waterbed.] You just got home from a long, hard day at work. You kick off your shoes and fall gracelessly into your expensive fancy Non Newtonian waterbed, and it instantly reacts with firm support of your weight. As you relax on the bed, the patented "soliquid" yields to your weight, and allows you to drift off into a deep, deserved slumber.
As you shift your weight in the night, the NNWB will become slightly more firm to facilitate ease-of-movement and cut down on the incessant waves of a normal waterbed . . . as soon as you stop moving, it will resume cradling you in a pocket of soft liquidiness.
(re-post after 10'04 crash.)-- contracts, Jan 04 2005 many newtonian waterbeds have baffles http://www.gomattre...ttress-Glossary.htm [FarmerJohn, Jan 04 2005] Vibrating Cornstarch Solution http://www.fugly.co...rating=&per_page=25Very odd video [5th Earth, Jan 06 2005] If water were to be used, could baffles not be moulded into the plastic / rubber of the bed to cut damp out vibration more rapidly?-- david_scothern, Jan 04 2005 but i like the water bed ovements-- redwheel, Jan 04 2005 Custard bed?-- st3f, Jan 04 2005 [davidscothern] I agree that baffles would provide a significant dampening effect to the wave motion, but I don't know if they could be incorporated in such a way as to provide as much asymptotic resistance to force as a variably solid liquid.
Oh yeah, and I'm not a physicist, engineer, or chemist. :-)-- contracts, Jan 04 2005 No, I agree with you, a non-newtonian fluid would probably do a much better job. I was just thinking of a cheaper interim measure, but it seems that this is by no means an original thought (FJ's link)-- david_scothern, Jan 04 2005 Genius! My bed squeaks like a squeaky thing, which means any, er, energetic activity generally dissolves into giggles. This would be perfect! The material would need to be very non-newtonian, but bypassing all those squeaky springs during sex would be a godsend!-- moomintroll, Jan 04 2005 You could be evil and fill the bed with a thick mix of cornstarch in water, which has inverse thixotropy (it locks solid against sudden movements, but flows like a liquid when left undisturbed). Under this scenario, you kick off your shoes and fall gracelessly into your home-made Non Newtonian waterbed. Instantly, you find you've fractured your collarbone against the concrete-like surface, which then yields squishily so that you can enjoy the pain in comfort. It'd be good for sex though (the faster you go, the harder it gets.....)-- Basepair, Jan 04 2005 Yeah, uhm . . . that's the design. The mixture would be weighted such that instead of becoming a rigid solid, it merely firms. Bleach (or similar) added to keep the nasties from mouldering.-- contracts, Jan 04 2005 Ah - I see. By the way, is there a term for 'inverse thixotropy' rather than 'inverse thixotropy'? I have a feeling there ought to be...-- Basepair, Jan 05 2005 Counterintuitive viscous physics? I believe that a "non-newtonian solution" distinctly implies a 'liquid' that has inverse thixotropy.-- contracts, Jan 05 2005 Did Newton invent the water bed?-- energy guy, Jan 05 2005 A thought: If you were to create a non-newtonian waterbed surely you'd have a problem whereby once you stopped moving you'd sink into the liquid and either a) drown, or b) have a real problem getting out, as trying to pull yourself out of the liquid would cause it to solidify around you? (This affect was demonstrated on Brainiac recently when Jon Tickle walked across a swimming pool of custard, and then sank when he stopped - getting out again was not at all easy).-- RichieRich, Jan 05 2005 I think I suggested toothpaste last time...-- lintkeeper2, Jan 05 2005 [RR], it would be encased in plastic . . . :-)-- contracts, Jan 05 2005 [contracts] - a non-Newtonian liquid is (I'm told) any liquid whose viscosity changes when it is stirred, but the change can be either up or down. So, a thixotropic liquid (like non-drip paint) is a n-N liquid whose viscosity drops on stirring, but there seems to be no specific term for a n-N fluid whose viscosity increases on stirring (except for 'inversely thixotropic'). Which is a pity.-- Basepair, Jan 05 2005 //"soliquid"// Liquid crystals?-- Aq_Bi, Jan 06 2005 // it would be encased in plastic . . . :-) //
THAT makes more sense..... ;)-- RichieRich, Jan 06 2005 That makes more sense than "Like a water bed, but using a non-Newtonian solution instead of water for better support" ?-- contracts, Jan 06 2005 // Did Newton invent the water bed? //
Obviously. How else do you think he discovered gravity?
He also invented the shoe horn, the cat flap, the spoon, and the spectrums of Venus.-- moomintroll, Jan 07 2005 [Basepair] I've seen the term dilatant in elsewhere on halfbakery.-- caspian, Jan 07 2005 [Caspian] - I just did a Google search and you were right about dilatant. Thanks :-)-- Basepair, Jan 08 2005 I want one of these, right now!
The cornstarch 'fingers' on [5th Earth]'s link is entirely disturbing. Please don't give me the non-newtonian bed with that feature please :D
Can I give this one 2 pastries?-- Salmon Of Doubt, Nov 06 2005 custard!-- Voice, Aug 25 2006 random, halfbakery