History of a Lost Supermaterial & How To Make It (Starlite Part 2)

In this video I explore the history of Starlite, homemade materials with similar properties, and commercial variants. Check out my sponsor Brilliant for a great way to learn math, science, and computer science: www.Brilliant.org/NightHawk
There are many links below to references used in creating this video, and I'll start with the link to the original demonstration of Starlite on the show Tomorrow's World: • Maurice on Tomorrows W...
Link to an excellent BBC documentary that first exposed me to Starlite: • Playlist
A special thanks to James Van Daele for digging up Boeing's patent for fire resistant plastic and sending it my way. That patent can be seen here (still in effect): patents.google.com/patent/US7...
Here is a now expired patent filed by Monsanto (go figure) in 1978 which is now expired, and dives deep into the chemistry of intumescent coatings. Very enlightening, and thanks to it's expired status it is probably the core of the many modern insumescent paints now on the market: patents.google.com/patent/US4...
(Possibly coincidental, but it is interesting that this patent was filed just a few years before the invention of Starlite.)
This is the oldest patent for an intumescent fireproofing product I was able to find: patents.google.com/patent/BE5...
Another short history of Maurice Ward and Starlite: • Starlite Fire Proof Mi...
Maurice Ward's personal blog (only updated a few times): mauricewardstarlite.blogspot.com/
A transcript from the BBC program Stuff: A Horizon Guide To Materials where a laser test is conducted on Starlite and the laser blows a fuse rather than completing the test (at 5:20): search.alexanderstreet.com/pr...
Here is my previous video documenting my first attempt at replicating Starlite: • A Super-Material That ...
Thank you very much to all of my Patreon supporters who have contributed to help me create videos like this one. A special thanks to my top Patrons: Enzo Breda Lee, Jon Hartmann, TheBackyardScientist & Eugene Pakhomov! / nighthawkprojects
This video has been dubbed using an artificial voice via aloud.area120.google.com to increase accessibility. You can change the audio track language in the Settings menu.
Thanks for watching!
-Ben

[@Nighthawkinlight]

Check out the other videos in my Starlite series, including how to make a Starlite forge: kzbin.info/aero/PL1a2HkcVbmAVm9q-OiOJ5DopnD72J3Qdf This is one project where you should definitely check out the source links posted in the video description! There's some really interesting stuff in there. Thanks to everyone who tested and experimented with my previous starlite (or "star-alike") recipe and shared their own videos. Thank you also to my Patreon supporters for backing projects like this one. I'm not finished with this yet, and I hope to work my homemade fireproofing material into several other projects.

[@thecommentator3594]

How about using Calcium Carbonate instead of baking Soda in Combination with Sodium Alginate as a Binder to produce a more elastic substance?

[@Nighthawkinlight]

@@thecommentator3594 all sorts of binders would work fine. I think calcium carbonate has too high a decomposition temperature to be useful.

[@KharBrons]

@@Nighthawkinlight maybe a recipe for "backyard furnace" bricks?

[@alaric_]

I'm sorry but most of the sponsor stuff went unnoticed because of that cute parrot :) :D

[@bravojr]

You should think about sealing this with some sort of spray on apoxy or something that will ensure it to survive for years during "moisture" exposure.

[@freekeefox]

It's so funny how so many of life's mysteries boil down to "I didn't know the term to search for"

[@17hmr243]

Chicago bolts- took me months

[@ChromaMatrix]

@@17hmr243 That's what they're called?? I was searching for those a long time ago and never could find them

[@17hmr243]

@@ChromaMatrix to make paracord fibs to weave yes . And in knife handles, book binding, and costume building

[@aserta]

Story of my life, and Google's changes to how things work in the algorithm haven't made it easier. I know indexing more results = more work for them, but ultimately, they fucked up with the search engine, and a lot of results just don't pop up anymore.

[@dr_fish]

@@17hmr243 Ha! I can relate to the one specifically, took longer than I care to admit.

[@yeebus]

Don't be fooled, he says he made this material intentionally but really he just sucks at baking cookies

[@uxleumas]

i mean, those are ingredients in a cookie

[@thisoldboat7393]

It's a guy thing D:

[@myes344]

Sooo....you suck at cooking?

[@niccatipay]

You mix borax in cookies? I have been doing it wrong. Brb gonna make cookies with it.

[@albertagibinik7524]

Don't eat them 🤣

[@grampsinsl5232]

I was Maurice's main point of contact in the 1996-1998 period with McDonnell Douglas as it was transitioning to Boeing. When I retired from Boeing in 2016, I wrote a paper on our Starlite testing during that period, because most of the primary players were already dead - Maurice himself, and Rudi Naranjo who had been Maurice's main NASA contact, and our own chief investigator for tests we ran using lasers and torches on a wide variety of Starlite samples in St Louis and at other sites. Whether they accepted that paper for the Boeing Technical Journal or not, I don't know. But I do know that Maurice himself didn't understand the theoretical basis for how Starlite worked. He was an experimenter, not a theoretician. Starlite wasn't a thing, it was a family of things, and he would never be able to just produce a jar of Starlite. He invariably asked for a detailed description of whatever application you wanted to put it to, then he would go into a lab and create something that he thought would work. Testing would show if he was on the right track, and he'd refine the formulation until he was satisfied with its performance in that particular form for that particular application. For anything else, the process would start all over. Starlite could be mixed with water to form a paste, or with epoxy, or various other things. He could blend it in with plastic materials (all that stuff about being a hairdresser was a red herring that he used to distract people from the fact that he'd spent years in the plastic recycling business) and polypropylene seemed to be his favorite there. He could incorporate it into foams. He could make it rigid or flexible. He could make it intumescent or not, and that alone used to create another useful red herring for researchers who might be trying to duplicate his material. During the course of our testing we found other materials that could reproduce some of Starlite's properties, but not all. They tended to be cementitious (you can get impressive thermal resistance out of ordinary Hardie board) and not amenable to combining with resins and plastics without severely compromising their mechanical properties. One in particular, though, involved a very different theoretical basis from the others, based on seemingly unrelated NASA research, and the test data that they showed matched our Starlite data for coated metal panels. That's the only form that it came in, though, a coating; it couldn't, as far as I know, have been molded into plastics or foams like Starlite was. Being able to handle Starlite in its many forms, and being on close personal terms with its inventor at the time, was one of the most memorable phases of my career. I wish something could have been done with Starlite, but Maurice knew that he was only going to get one chance to cash in on his invention because it wasn't protected by patent (he was holding it as a trade secret instead) and so as soon as it was used on actual products out in the real world, it was going to get reverse-engineered and reproduce in some form or another without earning him a cent in royalties. He left the basic formulation behind, with his wife and daughter, but he told me once that he hadn't told them quite everything; he said he'd "kept the good stuff" to himself. A very unusual man, to match his very unusual material!

[@Nighthawkinlight]

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[@ealtar]

YES ONE chance ... that he blew ..... he got NOTHING and died .... and the world didn't get a material that would make it easier for reusable rockets ......

[@Stefanitza27]

Fascinating!

[@AR15andGOD]

Rest in peace but what an arrogant piece of trash... keeping the good stuff to himself when no such ownership exists over his creation, having been created by God first and foremost... thanks for stunting scientific growth, egoist.

[@robertoverbeeke865]

WoW. Thx for this addendum.

[@davidwarren9204]

Japanese builders have been using a technique called Yaki Sugi ( 焼杉, "Roasted Cedar") for centuries (it's usually called "Shou Sugi Ban" in the west, for some reason). It involves charring the outer surface of cedar cladding boards of wooden houses. It increases rot- insect- and fire-resistance...

[@jari2018]

its used on poles for fenses -in finland and by late father -he didnt come up with it himself

[@kevhalpin6371]

about 35yrs ago there was a lot going on with cold fusion me and a mate started experimenting being budding scientists i had discovered electrolysis fascinating but one experiment brought me to the properties of carbon i found if i put a piece of carbon fibre mat squashed into a piece of 1/1/2 copper tube with a positive connection to the tube and to battery and a negative to what ever metal i wanted to melt even two dissimilar metals together copper and zinc which i later found out was a light alloy for aircraft structures duralumin i think it was called they would melt together like butter i was using bell wire to connect to the battery on forty amps no heat in the wires unless i caught on the copper and caused a short?

[@changgyong]

@@kevhalpin6371 Don't know much about carbon fiber but Your approach to grammar seems also quite revolutionary...

[@AvanaVana]

Mr. Chickadee, ASMR home building/carpentry/Japanese joinery channel on YT makes extensive use of this technique, though not always with cedar. Given cedar’s natural rot and fungicidal/pesticidal qualities, it would obviously be a superior choice

[@helengren9349]

@@jari2018 In Sweden as well 👍

[@circuitdotlt]

If I wanted millions for some flour and borax, I'd be very secretive too.

[@executive]

if you wanted millions, then your recipe would need to perform better than flour and borax. For a chemist, it's not that much of a secret.

[@circuitdotlt]

@@executive exactly why he demanded to wash your hands after handling it....

[@executive]

@@circuitdotlt you could be as secretive as you want. You think people wouldn't discover mixing two common household items together on their own?

[@ScaniaFung]

the best way to make is sign a contract to sell the copyright of the formula completely before they know it

[@slathian1223]

@@executive You obviously have not been in the intellectual community. They over think everything and would never believe that it would be that simple.

[@justinorwen1739]

Borax melts into a glass like material, thats why the carbon material is much stronger.

[@qvatch]

one step away from borosilicate glass. Try adding waterglass? :)

[@mralabbad7]

You mean it scratches at level 6?!?!

[@AutomationDnD]

Came on to *Suggest He ADD Borax* as an insect deterrent, etc

[@markfryer9880]

@@AutomationDnD I thought it was used as a washing powder?

[@cezarcatalin1406]

Mralabbad With deeper grooves at level 7

[@luismelendez5725]

My curiosity died a long time ago, however, not the basic usefulness of advantageous information even if I could not understand it. Thank you for your very educational video.

[@4shotpastas]

As a writer who dabbles in sci-fi, I love coming across science youtube channels. They always give me ideas because of everything I learn. Found you through recommended videos while watching NileRed, definitely gonna check out more of your stuff.

[@haydennorris2913]

I used this recipe as a makeshift high temperature soldering block for jewelry making. I was able to solder large pieces of silver plate without warping or bending. The carbon reflected the heat into the part nicely and protected the surface underneath. Thanks nighthawkinlight.

[@openlink9958]

I would love to see a video on it

[@richardpeterson3753]

huh.i also dabble in jewelry crafting so that is a nice idea.

[@LeoG.R.]

🎯👍

[@alexgee3111]

now you can use his new torch for jewelry making as well lol

[@bunni3140]

I was just thinking about this as I scrolled to this comment... Thanks for sharing that.

[@kikivoorburg]

9:05 I highly respect the little note saying "potential false dichotomy", not many people are courageous enough to point out potential flaws in their arguments like that. Keep up the great work!!

[@JigJagging]

Not just courage, we have here a very honest person. By the way, it's spelled dichotomy, not dichomoty as shown on the video

[@InvictusByz]

Absolutely, and it's generally a good sign of a strong, well founded argument, too. For example, I do think it was a false dichotomy, but that doesn't undermine the use of Occam's razor, or the argument itself in any way. It just means there are more angles to the question of what happened in that lab than were stated, and Occam's Razor can still be used to trim away suggestions that require Ward's Starlite doing what is currently considered impossible.

[@AdrianCruz_]

I remember when I was younger going through KZbin and seeing a clip of him showing off the egg experiment. I’m not one for experimenting myself, the most I’ve done is handling borax for slime for my siblings, it’s amazing how much people can do with just some home materials, bits of information, and determination. Even now just reading the comments seeing people talk about their own experiments with similar goals, or even experiments for other materials in general, it’s amazing how far one can go with things you can buy from stores. It’s inspiring, maybe one day when I’ve sorted out what I want to do with my life I could try it out myself. So in short thanks for sharing this, even if it took a few years for KZbin to recommend, it was definitely worth it!

[@Marread]

You legend! I remember playing with your last recipe in my garage and having it stand up to some mighty feats ;) now I've returned and you've only gone and made it a thousand times better! God bless!

[@rshinra]

As an engineer on the former Space shuttle in specifically this area, I don't know if I speak for my friends, but I definitely found this Freaking amazing. I've been watching your channel for years, and this is one of the best videos you've ever made!

[@UltimatePerfection]

As someone interested in space engineering, would this material work as a shuttle's heat shielding (even if you end up remaking it every time since it's so easy and cheap to produce).

[@mduckernz]

@@UltimatePerfection I doubt it would be durable enough. Remember, in re-entry conditions you've got not only superheated plasma but also strong shock fronts, pressure, and supersonic gas flow. The carbon foam would need to be very strong, or it could be ripped off. Either this leads to a very fast regression speed or worse, actual structural failure. This is why plastic resins with insulator materials in it are commonly used for ablative shields - they're consistent all the way through and strong.

[@jengleheimerschmitt7941]

@@mduckernz Ahh common, put some ceramic fibers in it or some carbon fiber... I pay taxes and I want an edible reentry vehicle.

[@mordokai597]

you're completely and utterly full of sh!t! if you worked in aerospace engineering you'd already know EXACTLY what boron-carbide ceramic composite is... boron suspended in a ceramic lattice of carbide foam... you know... the stuff we make the heat shielding on THE SPACE SHUTTLE out of ;)

[@unscnordlicht3279]

@@mordokai597 who are you talking about, you gotta be specific

[@markmayberry5459]

I really appreciate the calm, no-nonsense tone in these videos. Plus the annotations. Informative without trying to be clever. Why can't all informative KZbin channels be like this? I can't even describe how tired I am of excessive upspeak in other videos.

[@AzamatBagatov413]

The best super material is the saudi arabian passpot of 911 hijackers. It survived thousands of degrees of temperature and fell right into the laps of fbi.

[@kentneumann5209]

@@AzamatBagatov413 - Oh fuck ya! That was a miracle wasn't it? The fact that the world let that shit go in the face of so much evidence before and after the incident, without prosecution of the Bush, Cheney, and Bin Laden families just gave the powers that be that much more confidence to pull off more deadly super heists of the citizens of the world. Cuz they know the majority of people are either too shallow minded too see it or too indifferent or too skeptical. They can get away with anything now and go virtually unchallenged. Like the intentional release of a man made bio weaponized Frankenstein corona virus with HIV DNA it that is spread thru the air instead of sexual transmission of bodily fluids that targets those people that are receiving government benefits to live. The retired, and the sick. Follow the money. It always knows.

[@kentneumann5209]

Yup. This guy is like a cool glass of water on a hot day. Simple and refreshing.

[@garyz777]

me too.

[@robertl8463]

Because the snotty, entitled children that dominantly habitate KZbin don't know what hard work is and never will. They don't work or contribute because they're fuckin parasites who drink up the "im oppressed" narrative

[@alanlittle4589]

I remember this from Tomorrow's World - BBC One TV in UK. Every so often I have been reminded of it in the 30+ years since it aired. Fascinating story...

[@ralphacosta4726]

Another great example of scientific curiosity and experimental patience. Great work; thanks for sharing.

[@slagathore100]

About 7 years ago when I was a freshman of Chemistry I went a little nuts going down the Maurice Ward rabbit hole. I think you are right in using readily available materials. I think the simplicity of the ingredients is in part for the ridiculous secrecy. In my mania i came up with a list of potential ingredients a hairdresser would have had access too, local to his area and his time. My most successful trial came after introducing a borosilicate powder to a similar base to yours. My most catastrophic failure came after i then tried adding sodium hydroxide as an analog for a perm solution. I was so caught up in the mystery that i neglected to actually work out the chemistry.

[@alexsullivan2957]

Howd the sodium hydroxide work out?

[@the-0-endless376]

@@alexsullivan2957 boom

[@nevose9046]

I'd like to add concern that Maurice is not the original inventor. I think he was given a recipe. If he could create it, as a scientist he should know why it responds as it does.

[@ramendude4062]

@@the-0-endless376 how do you know that?

[@Mirgatroid]

It's like Ted Cruz made a baby with Elijah Wood...

[@koffiemonster]

Styropyro or the backyardscientist should unleash some laser mayhem on it.

[@Regolith]

Oh boy, they really should

[@The_Hell_Lord]

did you see the cody's lab video?

[@pin1771]

@@The_Hell_Lord what video? can you give the link?

[@hyperhektor7733]

@@pin1771 he already did, if i remeber correctly the laser was stopped due smoke (lost its focus)

[@CottonTailJoe]

Yeessssddssd!!!!!!

[@iandamon4968]

I love how you do the homework on thoroughly researching the info in your vids.

[@TheDaggwood]

First time here. Your presentation skills are top notch. You know the material and don't cut very often. Refreshing, love it!

[@merlinmagnus873]

I love when I spend an hour descriptively googling something till I find the the proper term for it. upon googling that, suddenly there is a wealth of information.

[@Treblaine]

when I saw the title: "ahh another video on Starlite, I've heard this story before" When I finished the video: "This was so much new information and so well put together. NightHawkInLight delivers again!"

[@garyeaker3729]

Fantastic Video. I've been interested in the product ever since I saw the eccentric inventor demonstrate it. Showing the paint possibilities was also very helpful. Living on ten acres of woods makes fire a great danger. Thanks. Great instruction. Now it's time to experiment and play and see what can be practically protected.

[@pamelajackson3067]

I watched this video after the waterproofing sheet video both impressive,VERY impressive! I'm going to watch a few more. You are a great orator and teacher. I will explore Brilliant and check back in. Thank you for "Sparking" my 68 yr. Young's brain🙏

[@johnpalmer5131]

One use I can see for this is as a homemade welder’s putty to protect from heat when working around items that need to be protected from excessive heat.

[@teknomonk3423]

I was thinking similar with soldering pipes in between wood joists... I use damp rags and a mister... now a may just make some cookie dough! :)

[@kitemanmusic]

What is welder's putty? Starlite?

[@pteppig]

@@kitemanmusic it's heat insulating putty, that boils away water as vapor to lower the temperature. f.e. wet clay. Starlite is much more effective than that - and cheaper to make

[@btkramer]

I am not sure if it would work as welder's putter. Heat moves through the metal while welding through conduction. Welder's putty is wet and cools the metal that it is in direct contact with as the water in it evaporates. This Starlite wrapped around the metal would not prevent heat from conducting through the metal underneath it, and it would act as insulation.

[@littleh4xx0r]

i am thinking about using this for selective hardening of steel blades :3

[@_Bumby_]

Just a theory, but maybe he didn’t want the recipe for starlite to get out because it was super easy and relatively cheap to make??

[@Nighthawkinlight]

Maybe

[@SoulDelSol]

Of course that's it. What good is a patent in that scenario

[@skeetsmcgrew3282]

Thing is, if that were the case, he could have still sold it. Many patents are just re-hashed ideas and recipes that already exist. But his stupid greed made him think he could make a billion dollars from a tool-shed invention. If he had said, alright sight unseen total sale of all rights, recipe and all, with a 1% kickback on all profits forever, for let's say $5 million, he could have lived out his life in comfort.

[@neeneko]

@@SoulDelSol In a way, that type of situation is where a patent is most useful. Patents are most powerful in situations where there are few if any physical or economic barriers to recreating something, and thus only a legal barrier can prevent companies from doing so.

[@nacoran]

@@neeneko Yep. Although if you keep it as a trade secret instead you can keep it to yourself even longer than a patent. The problem with a trade secret is reverse engineering. Trade secrets are good for products that are hard to reverse engineer. If tomorrow someone figures out how to make a 3D printer that has 1000x better resolution and can print 3 times as fast as anything on the market they could A) patent it and enjoy market dominance for a few years or B) keep it as a trade secret and just make them for their own use and try to corner the market for 3D printed goods. If what you invented is just some chemicals mixed together and the real money is selling that as the finished product then patent is the way to go because the minute you send out your first shipment people are going to have samples to reverse engineer.

[@chrismccolm9341]

so I started watching this and was thinking I would skim through it and get some details....then I forgot to skim and watched 21 minutes of really neat information! Keep up the great content!

[@malsoonsakit4786]

I saved this vid for my son who builds proto type industrial machines. I might use your way of starlite when building a yard bread furnace around my village house. I enjoyed this vid tremendously

[@Fernando-sd6xt]

I knew ship's biscuits were near indestructible, but this is a whole new level. Complete with Borax weavil protection, although I don't think the sailors would appreciate it.

[@jensboettiger5286]

The English bakers used to cut their bread with Borax and Alum in the 19th century. It’s not healthy, but not very deadly to humans either

[@MrKfadrat]

my guess is that starlite was made with exactly the most basic ingredients he had in the kitchen, and he knew that everyone can replicate it - hence the secrecy.

[@helloyes2288]

I was about to suggest this. It's made out of literal household ingredients. If he wanted to sell it and have it be taken seriously, he needed people to assume it was more than it was.

[@gorkskoal9315]

@@helloyes2288 lol fun fact? that's how: BSD, Windows, BeOS, and MacOS all got off the ground. Infamously that was also how the segway scooter got going as well.

[@thisisabsolutelystup]

Yeah also my theory. Possibly he also knew it was vulnerable to insects and rot, but not being a true chemist, he wasn't sure how to adjust the formula to make it durable. So he was stuck - he can't make it and sell it as is, because it wasn't real world ready. But he couldn't share the formula with companies in negotiations, because they'd just copy it and claim parallel discovery.

[@j.liddle7580]

I agree. If Starlite were truly made of obscure materials, he would be better off filing a patent and collecting massive royalties from the only companies large enough to produce it in the first place.

[@therealcoro]

@@helloyes2288 it's more that anyone would just make it ingredients from the grocery store at low cost, rather than pay for the product at any significant price. Should have just taken a payout from big B and let it go.

[@davidrumbelow]

Watching your videos are far better than Netflix and far more informative.

[@RandomKSandom]

Wow. I remember this being all over the news at the time. It's really cool to learn more about it now.

[@nerdlingeeksly5192]

"It turns out this is an old technology that was rediscovered" Now if only someone could rediscover Roman concrete

[@Nighthawkinlight]

The channel Practical Engineering has a great video about Roman concrete.

[@MrAhmed42069]

@@Nighthawkinlight love that channel like yours

[@lcmiracle]

A lot of these so-called "lost secrets" are really just things most people interested in disseminating such information actively trying to hide from their audience. Edit: in case I wasn't clear, I was referring to press, programs, magazines, mystics/gurus/your personal spiritual coach etc. trying to sell you mysteries for money.

[@nerdlingeeksly5192]

@@Nighthawkinlight I'll be sure to check it out

[@lucusloc]

@@lcmiracle I have learned to spot these types of things and started calling people out for it. Everything from "Aztec soil" "so much better than modern fertilizer" (which is just regular old high carbon mulch) to Roman concrete (a well know if a bit obsolete formulation of everyday versions) to Starlight, most of the people peddling these as "mysteries" are indeed hunting not for any kind of answer but rather for clicks from the curious and gullible. Unfortunately there are many people who *want* there to be a mystery and so defend such articles despite overwhelming evidence that the answer is actually quite well understood. I once had an argument with someone over the "Aztec soil" thing, and how they claimed that it outperformed anything we could produce today. When I pointed out that it is a well know fact that high carbon mulches typically improve with age and that *of course* a mulch layer hundreds of years old would out perform something produced just last year they got all huffy and said that didn't prove anything. When I countered that we have many agricultural universities with mulch beds mere decades old that far surpass any of the examples of "Aztec soil" we have they wound up just blocking me. They simply did not want the mystery solved, nor to be informed that not only was the answer mundane, but we had also learned to surpass it due to a better understanding of the process. I am willing to bet that there will be many "Starlink apologists" that will take a similar stance. The story is simply too good for them to let go.

[@danbhakta]

If I remember correctly, Ward's intention was a result of an airline disaster...he sought out to create a non-flammable alternative to the internal plastic construction used in commercial planes...I have issues with him...as his claimed initiative was altruistic, but his subsequent behavior was for purely monetary gains. The little voice in the back of my head says that there was a severe flaw in his formulation...my guess is longevity or durability...and he was biding time to perfect it, to no avail, before his ultimate demise.

[@MetroidChild]

The major flaw would likely have been how it had to be used, at best you could only do mechanical die punch forming, and then you would have to take into consideration shrinkage while drying, and likely degradation if exposed to water. When someone figured out how to add the properties to plastic there wasn't any need for this material anymore, although it's simplicity and availability does make it sound interesting for fire protection in developing countries.

[@gregflores8959]

Dude, you had me at ‘waterproof bedsheets’,...I’m am now a dedicated subscriber to your amazing channel.

[@chrisgann8986]

Yes. When i was in school, i had contact with NASA back then and held the plates they put on the space shuttles. The man who presented it to me, stated that it was extremely expensive, so only select people could even know about it. He demonstrated a torch on it then put his hand on it. I did it next. It had no temperature. It was very heavy. The space shuttles were covered in them. It would glow red while fire was on it and hold no heat at all. Nothing was burned at all.

[@Discitus]

I find the story of Starlite fascinating, mostly because of the inventor's self-destructive tendencies. He possibly could have made millions, but was continually foiled by himself.

[@executive]

no kidding. Did he really think he was going to inspect the fingernails of everybody buying, using or just being around his product?

[@piranha031091]

"He possibly could have made millions" Not really. I'm pretty sure loads of other intumescent materials were already available.

[@markfryer9880]

If he had sold his idea as a license for production at a rate which only added a few % to the cost of the items it was being used in then companies would be more than happy to sign up for its use. He would then have set himself and his family up with an ongoing income stream(s) for years and generations to come. Now, they are just a sad by -line in history.

[@executive]

​@@piranha031091 but the others couldn't withstand 10,000 degrees like his!

[@markfryer9880]

@@executive Alleged 10,000 degrees Celsius. It was only his claim not verified independently.

[@rog2224]

The 'rare' ingredients may not have been overly exotic to someone who trained as a hairdresser in the 1940s and 50s in the UK.

[@MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive]

Roger O'Donnell I wonder if he stumbled on some of the properties while heating hair too long.

[@huipil]

@@MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive lol

[@KertaDrake]

It would also explain the extreme paranoia over the ingredients... if anyone could make it at home with ease, how could you really profit from it once the secret is out?

[@JesusSaves86AB]

I imagine some of the ingredients were familiar to him in hair products.

[@theRhinsRanger]

Gru= "Oh dear your Perm is on fire", Old lady= "I don't feel a thing" Gru= "LIGHTBULLLB!!

[@MissionaryForMexico]

You did a very good explanation, and outstanding demonstration of this fire resistant material!

[@rickr6853]

It gives me a great pleasure and knowledge watching your videos. Thank you for sharing. Keep up the great work !!

[@mycolligjusvartid]

I remember the original BBC story introducing starlite when it first aired in my country. I recall one of the claims made by Ward was that it was made with "household ingredients".

[@pavementsailor]

I remember this too. I searched for news of starlight a couple of times since then. Thought it got the government treatment. Now I know.

[@enochster7964]

What's worse than keeping your secret products secret is, the product you thought of making years ago being made by someone else and you watch it being sold on TV and Amazon.

[@varrjames186]

And also on TV it comes with a free set of steak knives.

[@74stinkyfoot]

Why is that bad? If you invented it and you're being paid for it, being sold everywhere seems like a "you made it to the big time" moment.

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

@@74stinkyfoot You don't get the point, which is that keeping a recipe secret means having no patent on it, so if someone else makes and sells it, with or without patent, you don't get to see a single penny of it. The man was plainly paranoid, and he never got what he wanted: free money for the rest of his life.

[@stefthorman8548]

@@paulmichaelfreedman8334 not paranoid, if you can't make money from the patent.

[@officialtheory001]

This actually happened to me but was an idea for product.. few of them actually if I had the money to do it I'd be rich

[@dommyboysmith]

Boral is a building material usually used for exterior trim. Waterproof, doesn't rot, and when I threw a puck of it into the firepit, it was still there after weeks of fires. "Boral TruExterior Trim is made from a combination of a bio-based polymer and fly-ash (which is a byproduct of coal combustion). Combining the ash with a polymer makes a sustainable product with some excellent characteristics"

[@donmclemore1396]

Seems like it would make good house siding.

[@martinwashington3152]

Very good video buddy, I really enjoyed that and you do so well being a presenter too. Keep up the good work, very nice quality video streams!

[@fizzyplazmuh9024]

Glad you took up this mystery. I remember when the creator first debuted the material on news programs decades ago. I started prototyping similar materials until I was duplicating Space Shuttle-style heat tiles instead. I wanted the whitest refractory ceramic I could design AND make it water proof so it could be used for roofing and wall tiles to just plain ignore sunlight and Texas heat. The final products where nearly imune to large fresnel lenses and barely even warmed but I never resolved the water corrosion issues. Any glaze involved raised the heat absorption back up again. Someday though...

[@Nighthawkinlight]

Great project. Thermal radiating paints have been a trendy topic recently, but I'm suspect about durability and their continued function after getting a little grime on them.

[@D-Vinko]

@@Nighthawkinlight This is an unfair critique, seeing as how those claims are made from both lab and field tests. The field being where grime and dirt exists.

[@AKiDNAMEDLAX]

Brb gunna make cookies with borax and shingle my roof because I'm a resident of the dang future

[@toxomanrod]

Fizzy, I'm currently delving into refractory ceramics for kiln-making. Would you be willing to teach what you've learned or share helpful resources for experimenting? I'm deeply interested in all this and would love to learn more!

[@iancowan3527]

Glaze... A lite silica coating... Which was how our ancestors keep ceramic from water corrosion!

[@shirshzibbu330]

2:11 improved version of my formula 6:26 history of Starlite 10:56 Starlite commercialization 13:51 similar products

[@therealandrewcano]

People like you are good people

[@juap]

People like you are nice and soft people.

[@BigMacOrange]

I'm the 69th like on this comment😏

[@shirshzibbu330]

@@BigMacOrange _NICE_

[@therealandrewcano]

@@BigMacOrange *#WINNER*

[@ngails]

Great video. Great presentation. Great benefit to the viewer. 10/10.

[@psiga]

Excellent presentation. Totally deserving of over a million subscribers! Congrats on soon reaching 2 mil. ;)

[@CaptainSlowbeard]

It's stuff like this that makes me feel like being a teenager again would be amazing rather than awful. I know gen Z has inherited a lot of crap to deal with, but I would have killed to have access to this kind of information when I was young. I was so enthralled with the world and how cool every avenue of science is, but was stuck in a world of pen and paper, crappy teachers, no encouragement, and no people to realistically aspire to (Boyle and Newton don't count) As a 40-odd year old, watching this makes me want to study chemistry, physics, engineering and dig a basement to make into a lab. Please keep doing what you're doing

[@META_mahn]

As someone in Gen Z (fresh bachelor's grad, just on my first job!) I believe anyone can be a scientist. Not every scientist works in a lab, though. Most people doing science don't even have a lab or a title concerning science. Science is a mindset, not a job category. If you are trying to grill the perfect spare ribs, you can apply the idea of science to your process. If you are just trying to get your car to have a little more mileage, you can apply the idea of science. If you're even just trying to optimize the time you have in a day, you can still turn that into science. It's still not too late.

[@amjan]

Weird. In Poland in the 70s/80s/90s TV was full of popular science programming including home science instructionals for kids, sth that doesnt exist any more. My fave program was called "Kuchnia" (pol. 'kitchen') in the 90s, where the presenter with his two sons were doing cool physical and chemical experiments using stuff available to everybody at home, especially in in their kitchen.

[@UnspokenWords2010]

You're never too old to start!

[@UnspokenWords2010]

@@amjan we had something like that on the same generation he was called Mr Wizard. A real scientist. Then came the phony scientists like Bill Nye, Neil Degrasse Tyson.

[@redapproves1330]

Gen X here. I started dabble into micro bio and material science projects for fun. Most are just duplicating experiments found here. No grand plans but it's intellectually stimulating and fun. So if you're thinking about it, do it!

[@drbbhiggins]

My dad was a chemist and made something similar to this in the early 80's. His had one component of coal ash the rest i don't know. But you could hold it in your hand like this demonstration but didn't blacken but was very brittle.

[@Urammar]

Is he still around? Can you ask him about it? Not blackening is very interesting if true, I'd love to find out about it

[@danielmichalski94]

So, I think this material was a carbon fome itself - it could resist huge temperatures be cause of its structure... That's only a guess, of course. It could work differently.

[@drbbhiggins]

So it was 1980 and I was 7 years old. Unfortunately my father passed away in 1999 and I don't know the rest of the formula. When I was young I did my best to soak up all the info I could but just can't remember half of it. My father had perfected mixing coal dust with oil and keeping it from settling in the solution through using concrete additives to stabilize the formula. End result was you could burn the coal-oil mixture and get additional BTU's from the burn while reducing sulfur dioxide emissions up to 85% depending on the grade of coal used. Additionally it was discovered that you could pump this coal-oil mixture concoction through pipelines without the danger of the coal eating away the pipe through abrasive action. In essence the additive coated the coal dust and gave it a non-abrasive action. I believe the coal-oil mixture led to the coal ash thermal heat plates he made. I wish I knew the formulations. Dad was always experimenting, even finding out what happens when you put coal in a microwave. First person I ever knew that made microwave popcorn 5 years before it ever hit the market. My dad was a great tinkerer and thinker always creating and improving on things. I miss all that shit. I do still have his formulation work around the coal-oil mixtures. He had started a company called Favon and was trying to sell the formulation to various power companies to burn in their boilers. You have to remember in 1979 the price of oil was way up during the OPEC embargo's. So utility companies burning oil to generate power were very interested in the tech to reduce overall cost. Sohio (Standard Oil of Ohio) was once such company wanting the tech. Then the price of oil fell and these companies pulled out. There is much more to the story but its more than I want to type.

[@mr.dinosuar7333]

@@drbbhiggins damn

[@davidmchenry79]

drbbhiggins This video may have been amazing, but the thing that really captured my interest is your story! I’d love to hear the rest of it!

[@dakrontu]

This is an impressive video, unusually well put together and informative.

[@WhatSoEverThingsAreLovely]

I saw this on a show called Tomorrow's World when I was kid. They had a blow torch on the material for the whole show then at the end showed how there was barely a mark from the heat!! I've always remembered that episode but never heard about that material again until now!!

[@christhebirb]

14:49 Let's make a happy litte fire resistant layer here

[@scottmacpherson9432]

I'd love to see you try making a small foundry out of that material and see how it holds up?

[@jamescanjuggle]

I might just do that, it be very interesting to see. I hope others do too that way we all get more results

[@reaganharder1480]

for a brief moment I was thinking of a crucible instead of a foundry, and was like "that wouldn't work. You need the heat to got through to melt the metal" but then I remembered what a foundry is and yeah, it would be interesting to see how it holds up. I can almost assure you that long-term survivability would be very very bad, but if you're a hobbyist who doesn't use a foundry very often, I don't imagine the cost of remaking it every time you use it would be all that troublesome.

[@dmsaintrain]

@@reaganharder1480 crucible for induction furnace?

[@reaganharder1480]

@@dmsaintrain 🤔 could be a possibility...

[@brandonfrancey5592]

Exactly what I was thinking. Now if I can overcome my laziness and do it.

[@Khancain]

One of the very few instances yt shows you a random channel and it’s a banger! Definitely want to try these in my forge

[@wbedard]

Like most of your videos, I found this really interesting and learned quite a bit. I love how such an effective material can be made from anything from very common to somewhat rare ingredients. Keep up the great work!

[@jaydeep-p]

I FOUND DWIGHT!!!

[@douglasjackson295]

the fact that I was just some dude on the internet that rediscovered a super material is astounding

[@andylifer5302]

I’ve always wondered what happened to this, invention, and especially what happened to the quite quirky guy who invented it. I’ve actually tried to research it and this is the only video I’ve found that mentions it. He claimed it could be used in liquid form to make fabrics fire proof and that it would be used to make rockets heat proof. It’s cool to finally know what happened and wish it was actually the magic material he had hoped it would be. Love your channel thanks.

[@WWIflyingace62]

I work with intumescent fire protection every day at work! We apply it to the inside of doors that go in railway cars.

[@HHernandez93]

What product brand do you use for that process? Our company uses it for structural steel buildings. We mainly use Carboline products when it comes to intumescent

[@markfryer9880]

@@HHernandez93 Is that anyway related to Vermiculite?

[@WWIflyingace62]

@@HHernandez93 we use several European brands, some made by the Sika Group in Switzerland, others made by SVT in Germany.

[@mduckernz]

@@markfryer9880 Vermiculite is just a mineral that expands significantly and exfoliates upon heating - no chemical reaction is involved, only mechanical. Not really related to these intumescent materials.

[@mushengwu6316]

um i think that guy he accidentally "discovered" (yes, not invented) starlite from burnt cookie made by his wife 😆

[@markfryer9880]

Must have been some really horrible tasting cookies.

[@RomeoRj7]

All discoveries/inventions made by humans are by accident. No one is born with the knowledge of how to create things. Experiments lead to discoveries.

[@lordfarquar9215]

@@RomeoRj7 some are made on purpose, if they had an understanding of science then you can predict how things react without a field experiment

[@lordfarquar9215]

If its man made then it's not discovered. Starlite is not a compound made in nature on this planet.

[@gubx42]

@@RomeoRj7 Not all discoveries are accidental. For example, the discovery of planet Neptune is the result of calculations. When they pointed their telescopes to the predicted location, the planet was there, as expected. The discovery of Pluto was accidental though, they tried doing the same thing as with Neptune but messed up their calculations, and found Pluto by pure chance. Also, experiment lead to discoveries only if you know where to look. For example, the discovery of radioactivity was the result of photographic chemicals being ruined when stored with certain materials. Most people would have thought about a manufacturing defect, light exposure, or something like that. It takes a serious scientific background to just notice that it may be the result of then unknown laws of physics.

[@chupamelamas]

Thank you once again for the great video! 🙏🏻 Towards these heat and fire tiles and materials, I came across to another great solution, and it's called hempcrete. I would love to see you doing a video of it in the same content as this video. In my part, I felt in love with hempcrete and hemp fiber, they are now my materials of choice by far. Surely, I would not build a space rocket of these, but almost everything else could work with it I guess. Best regards and thanks 🙏🏻

[@christophermccullough431]

Such a detailed breakdown. This video is awesome. Thank you

[@hott4526]

Omg this is why I love this channel

[@KowboyUSA]

Bird is the Word.

[@AtomicShrimp]

What's the reusability like on the borax-infused material - if it is cooled and exposed to flame again, is it still durable? Could it be used to line a small gas forge?

[@Nighthawkinlight]

It lasts a while, I'm not sure how long precisely.

[@thetntchicken142]

if you look at scenes when it's burning, you can see that it burns away slowly, so maybe make a furnace that has slots where you can slide new starlite tiles into

[@tarmacdemon]

What if you add Perlite or Vermiculite both have heat resistant properties ?

[@Yora21]

@@tarmacdemon Another gardener, I see.

[@tarmacdemon]

@@Yora21 How did you guess lol

[@andyp3834]

I saw some vids years ago on StarLite, can't wait to see what you got going in this video!

[@glenrissetto1874]

great video man, per usual genius, food for thought for personal home construction, genius content

[@agent136]

Subbed to this channel for the mini potato cannon, left with a super material. Thanks bro.

[@AutomationDnD]

Right??? He does some Cool Stuff here :-)

[@markfryer9880]

What no mention of the wonderful bird?

[@midnightgardener8346]

Wait, don’t leave! He’s not done yet🤣

[@mem4021]

I work as a building inspector and have a lot of run-ins with intumescent caulking that is used to fill membrane penetrations in listed assemblies. Hadn’t really thought about there being a link between starlight and the caulking as far as how they function

[@ArynMadden]

I enjoyed listening to your video. Even though it was long, I did not get bored. I feel like some creators put so much filler in that I can't stand watching it... but you were well-spoken, did not rush, did not go too slow, used examples, had a story, and gave credit when credit was due. It was a joy. I'm going to subscribe!

[@lucapatauner7665]

Nice work. I did a similar product with 2 components but I never had the opportunity to test it at very high temperature. At flame temperature it worked well.

[@alecsandoval8652]

This man is the living embodiment of absolutely boredom and curiosity combined

[@ArmchairDeity]

19:32 - third improvement from glass bubbles: massive overall weight reduction... the ‘98 Ford Taurus reduced the weight of their epoxy undercoat from 70+ lbs to ~34 lbs by incorporating 3M glass bubbles into the compound before spraying. The bubbles will flow, so they didn’t clog the sprayer. Cool technology...

[@ibrahimghanem5213]

3 meter glass bubbles

[@the_eminent_Joshua_E_Hrouda]

@@ibrahimghanem5213 🤣🤣 no, the 3M company 😉

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

@@the_eminent_Joshua_E_Hrouda That was kinda funny though

[@ibrahimghanem5213]

@@the_eminent_Joshua_E_Hrouda Lol thanks, i was really stumped

[@mikeroch200]

Well done. The best part of the new formula is that it tastes a lot better too!

[@basher92]

Fascinating history! Wish you all the best hawk! (and get your hands on rare materials) :p

[@soranuareane]

I don't think you've ever published a single video where I didn't learn something new. You go into so much detail in everything you cover and always do so in a fascinating way. Thank you! I hope you and your family are staying safe during these difficult times.

[@Odood19]

I like how you included the strange history of starlight's creator in this. What an odd character.

[@BeADad2447]

Just awesome! Glad I ran into this channel! Thank you

[@hummel6364]

I just love how your version is biodegradable. Really want a practical home use for that ngl.

[@oquendo0021]

Usually when I hear these sponsers I skip or just leave when it's in the end. But your bird caught my eye while slightly listening

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

So this is fireproof bread that survives reentry heat? "Commander to pilot: Stop eating the space shuttle!"

[@metalbob3335]

I was hungry! There is no truck stops out here.

[@FurtiveSkeptical]

But sir, it's caramelized so perfectly and apparently space smells like burnt steak.

[@Marandal]

Your In-depth explanation of Fire Retardants has made me Fully Realize the meaning of Chemistry; On a deeper level.💙

[@drakelazerus]

Thank you for your research and this video! I was researching ways to insulate my rocket stove and I believe this is the recipe I will be playing with.

[@Alan_Hans__]

Starlite: I can withstand 10,000 degrees Celcius: NASA learned that confusing metric and imperial measurements can make for expensive stuffups.

[@MrMaxeemum]

And Spinal Taps Stone Henge model.

[@Zweezish]

I'm a special inspector that has seen intumescent paint and material on a ton of job sites. Very cool video bringing awareness to the concepts!

[@BracaPhoto]

Same here... Im Geotechnical but got a cert for fireproofing 👍👍

[@markusfederico8732]

Uuuuui.... a SPECIAL Inspector.... wow...

[@davidfuller764]

@@BracaPhoto interesting, thanks

[@BracaPhoto]

@@davidfuller764 cause dirt and intumescent paint are somehow related right? 🤣😁 It's just a game of gathering as many certs as possible when your job pays extra for each one 👍👍

[@SomebodysNephew]

I love a good thumbnail that isn't clickbait.

[@keithwood6459]

I saw this on TV in the 80's. Never knew what it was or what became of it. So glad to finally hear the story.

[@v4skunk739]

Was it from that guy who also made the bear suit designed to protect you from a bear attack?

[@fireandcopper]

I think the added borax dehydrates with the heat making a carbon/borax glass composite, I really want to make a box with the material and see if I can finally have a cheap and readily available substitute for fire bricks

[@federschutz9789]

Was just thinking about using this as a forge liner

[@the_great_tigorian_channel]

A forge liner of this stuff could be a good way to prolong the longevity of my cheap cement one that I use with sand and plaster of Paris. I wonder if the putty mixture could in any way be mixed in with the cement. 🤔

[@TheGrinningViking]

@@the_great_tigorian_channel Even if you could it's probably better to figure out a way to make disposable sheets of something like this and swap them out as needed. Keep it fast and cheap and engineer for it and you can save a lot of time and effort.

[@LeGrandSarrazin]

The Grinning Viking from what I can see, it’s extremely easy to mold this stuff, so I can’t imagine that would very difficult to pull off

[@mattlangstraaat3508]

Reinvent the not needed...

[@Deathbykittens11]

The fact that this is such a mature and straightforward technology makes it surprising to me that it never showed up in Dr. Stone. It's exactly the kind of flex I would expect from that show.

[@Deathend]

I like your honest and educational style. Subscribed

[@anderssrensen3183]

A very sharp mind , enjoy watching your projects , thank you .

[@anthonywerfel2335]

You've gone to great effort to thoroughly research the topic and then explain the ingredients and material properties in a logical and clear way. All backed up with demonstrations and tests. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I really enjoyed it.

[@bram4904]

Increíble que compartas la ciencia con las personas de otros idiomas, gracias!

[@r.v.k.6932]

Fascinating vid, fantastic, humble, clear, no-nonsense explanation...truly brilliant bird moves ;-) (that charmer got me to stick through the entire commercial, well played!)..somewhere between the curiosity, the intelligence, the personality (seen and hinted at), the interesting conversational possibilities and, well, the looks...let's just say I wish I didn't also get the sense that you're a family man! ;-) Ahhhh, well thanks for the pleasant inspirations!

[@arfyness]

Ablative coatings are still used for atmospheric reentry, even just today to bring the Demo-2 guys home. (Bob and Doug, the #SpaceDads)

[@charleskings-road2087]

I love the fact that you have covered this subject, I saw "starlight" first shown on Tomorrows world and always wondered what happened to it. I will certainly be experimenting with this as a heat insulating material at some point.

[@scruffyronin9382]

Just mixed up a batch for fun, can't wait to see what it can do!

[@taj-ulislam6902]

Superb presentation. Excellent technical content. Definitely gripped my attention.

[@CorndogBrownie]

Havent watched the whole thing yet, but i love the whole story behind Starlite. Love that this is making a reappearance.

[@KyleTO7]

I used borax to coat my crucible that I use for melting Silver/gold. The borax melts to a clear liquid glass with an oxygen/propane torch and prevents the metal from sticking to crucible. It's really strong, glad you used it in your mix as I was thinking about it all along due to my past experiences.

[@clock7406]

That's cool