So I bought a microscope that does 2500x with a 5 MP camera - $400ish. We needed to have some insight into what is going on outside of guessing. After reviewing the video for upload it didn’t turn out that good. I have a screenshot though. If I had a youtube channel I’d put the video on there. The screenshot is too big to be hosted here so this is a link forcoolpaint-delete hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB
So until we understand what is going on - I am naming the smaller circles “globes” … I could call them spheres. Then a series of globes when attached make a formation. It is rare to see a globe by itself and really only if you take a sample at the top from a mix that has settled for not too long and the turbulance/resistance has kept the single globe at the top while the heavier ones have settled.
So video that I didn’t upload gives you some more idea as the focal plane moves up and downn but there are a lot of little globes all attached to each other. The larger formations/globs settle to the bottom faster. We didn’t see any readily apparent different size in the smaller globes from the different mixing times.
I’m not a physicist or an engineer but did take some classes in college - so with that being said this is my theory.
WHen the ingredients are mixed in the swirling water the reaction happens immediately and the smaller globes rapidly are created. The growth should be fast early on as more molecules are forming and there is plenty of the initial reagents (?) floating free. There will be smaller formations floating around looking to bind to something. By keeping it blending - these smaller globes keep from being attached in into the larger formations as the rest of the ingredients are finally consumed in the reaction. And the larger formations don’t attach themselves to each other.
So the effect that Ben talks about is more like formations and not the spheres he shows in his demonstration. [Although Ben is super smart so I may be totally wrong.] The formations look to some degree what I expect a molecule model to look like but I hesistate to use the word molecule as this is clearly scaled way beyond a molecule as I know one to be. So I will call these formations for now. My guess is that when you blend at 1 minute and stop then as the ingredients finish settling out - they keep being consumed. Possibly the larger formations will get larger in absences of energy as applied via turbulance and thus physical agitation.The large the molecules that more impact that will have and thus the less likely for them to join together. This somewhat makes sense as the blender would beat and lash around the formations as they formed into larger formations.
Anyway - I am not going to proof read this so tough nuts. Just wanted to get some thoughts out there and update the site for whomever is reading this on occasion.
Also I see we ranked on google at #1 for our name “coolpaint”.
The microscope should be a great addition and will let us synch up our understanding with what is going on far better. I tried to take video and slowly adjust the focal plane so one could see a bit of an animation of the visible globes but it didn’t work out so well when viewed later so I just made a screenshot and shipped it for anyone curious.
We also have some new temperature measuring devices so we can measure smaller samples and how well the pigment works. I don’t know if I ever took pictures but it is the most professional piece of hardware to date ! It allows us to measure the impact of basically what is a 3x3" square.
So now we will measure the batches from above.
THings have been going on in the background but as Rob suggested and in a sense of nerddom, I figured I would continue to document at least some of my progress.