Posted on 08/20/2007 6:19:10 AM PDT by Gamecock
In the latest science discovery, the material called aerogel could be the latest miracle to come out of the science industry.
Aerogel is one of the world’s lightest solids but take a look at what aerogel is capable of. Scientists say aerogel could be used to protect people from bomb blasts, help humans fly to Mars and even clean up oil!
With its amazing abilities, aerogel can withstand a direct blast on 1 Kg of dynamite and and aerogel can provide protection from heat at temperatures as high as 1,300 C.
Mercouri Kanatzidis, a chemistry professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said: “It is an amazing material. It has the lowest density of any product known to man, yet at the same time it can do so much. I can see aerogel being used for everything from filtering polluted water to insulating against extreme temperatures and even for jewellery.”
Aerogel is called frozen smoke as a nickname and aerogel is made by extracting water from a silica gel, then replacing it with gas such as carbon dioxide.
Lot of articles about this in the news section of Google today.
Looks to be the duct tape of the 21st century.
Scientists hail ‘frozen smoke’ as material that will change world
In America, we’ll probably just use if for breast implants.
But will it remove chewing gum from a kid’s hair or remove skunk smell from a dog?
Also lots of articles already posted on FR about this subject, which is NOT new. Aerogels have been "gee-whiz" in the general scieintific and engineering mags for at least ten years.
Aerogel - the new Duct Tape!
I thought Silly Putty could do all this.
Do they have a non-smoking version?
is there a home recipe available ?
I wonder what a layer of this stuff on the bottom of Humvees and Bradlee Fighter Strike vehicles would do against IED’s.
review
Anything that can top carbon fiber has to be pretty neat. High Country for the last three years has been selling 250-gr arrows that can be fired from 80-lb bows without harm to the bow or the arrow; archery experts are just now getting to where they can accept that as not impossible.
Tax it. Make it stay outdoors, more than 40 feet from any building entrance. It cannot exist around children, either.
I think there is, actually.
It’s 10 years old as has been said before, and I’m still waiting to see the first practical use put in production.
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
< *ducks*>
Seriously, this is a really, really interesting material. An acquaintance of mine is looking at it for use as an insulator for high-temperature piping and equipment in the petroleum and chemical industry.
Are you sure someone hasn’t found a way to market the ozone layer, and is stealing it right from over our noses?
ping!
Willie Nelson just ordered a truckload for summer use.
aerogel is made by extracting water from a silica gel
Waitaminute. Silica gel is used as a dessicant, i.e., a water absorber, in all sorts of consumer packaging (shoes, electronics, etc.). How does the water get there in the first place if not absorbed from a source?
Yeah, but it is a “chemical”, which to the mental runts on the Left means it must be bad.
Nasty ‘ol Aerogel probably also contributes to global warming, and has other “hateful” attributes.
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