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HYDRATE with Tracy Duhs · September 23 · 13 min

Testing A Material That Fire Can't Touch | Ian Mitchell | Ep. 65

You'd expect an egg to crack under a blowtorch. But what if a coating could protect what's inside?This week, inventor Ian Mitchell showed up at my house with Everclear, a blowtorch, and a compound his team calls “Egg Armor.” At 10 in the morning. Naturally, we turned my kitchen into a science lab.We started with an ordinary egg. It cracked in less than four seconds. Then came the coated egg, the stopwatch, and a very different result. Watching the outside glow was one thing. Seeing what was inside afterward was another.Ian explains how a project involving carbon-negative concrete led him to develop this heat-reactive coating, and why it expands when heated. We also get into the real-world problems he hopes materials like this could help solve.Stay for the reveal—and the moment our producer asks, “Can we eat that right now?” Apparently, a kitchen experiment can turn into breakfast.You'll never look at an ordinary egg quite the same way.Subscribe for more experiments and conversations on HYDRATE with Tracy Duhs.Watch my lab visit with Ian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvHYldfMgK8Connect with Ian:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ianmitchell1/Wizard Sciences: https://wizardsciences.com/Connect with Tracy:Website: https://tracyduhs.com/Hydration Shop: https://sanctuarysd.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyduhs/Flow FAM Community: https://tracyduhs.com/join-flow-fam/

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You'd expect an egg to crack under a blowtorch. But what if a coating could protect what's inside?This week, inventor Ian Mitchell showed up at my house with Everclear, a blowtorch, and a compound his team calls “Egg Armor.” At 10 in the morning. Naturally, we turned my kitchen into a science lab.We started with an ordinary egg. It cracked in less than four seconds. Then came the coated egg, the stopwatch, and a very different result. Watching the outside glow was one thing. Seeing what was inside afterward was another.Ian explains how a project involving carbon-negative concrete led him to develop this heat-reactive coating, and why it expands when heated. We also get into the real-world problems he hopes materials like this could help solve.Stay for the reveal—and the moment our producer asks, “Can we eat that right now?” Apparently, a kitchen experiment can turn into breakfast.You'll never look at an ordinary egg quite the same way.Subscribe for more experiments and conversations on HYDRATE with Tracy Duhs.Watch my lab visit with Ian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvHYldfMgK8Connect with Ian:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ianmitchell1/Wizard Sciences: https://wizardsciences.com/Connect with Tracy:Website: https://tracyduhs.com/Hydration Shop: https://sanctuarysd.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyduhs/Flow FAM Community: https://tracyduhs.com/join-flow-fam/

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