Thursday October 15, 2009

PH-Sensitive Materials

If you've done your high school chemestry classes and learned about the concepts of PH and acidity, then you've probably played with pH-sensitive materials before. HaloChromic materials are materials that change color depending on the surrounding media's acidity level and pH-sensitive polymers changes in size depending. They're commonly used in engineering or chemestry as pH indicators. They are, however, rarely used in artistic projects.

I was particularly interested in these compounds because they quickly changes they're appearance (size or color) depending on the environnement, depending on what touches them. This could be used to create compelling new forms of interactivity. The contact between my art project and different objects/liquids would create different different visual results.

For example, I could apply these concepts in interactive gloves which color or size changes depending on what you're touching. Or if, after a few tests, the different ph-sensitive compounds turn out to impractical for real-time applications, they could simply be used long-term in outside installations that change color depending on the rain, location, pollution or corrosion. These ideas have already been applied inside industrial paints for more practical reasons.