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.
If so, wasn't it invented back in the 1930s?
“Do no taunt Happy Fun Ball.”
Can I insulate my walls with it?
Today’s miracle material.
Tomorrow’s environmental disaster.
And people are willing to send you building materials for free!
BTW, I checked your profile for a street address, but no joy...
And people are willing to send you building materials for free!
BTW, I checked your profile for a street address, but no joy...
It's identical...except that it lasts 297.5 hours longer.
You used to be able to buy aerogel samples through United Nuclear, but I checked the site and they’re all sold out.
ping
Sounds like the monorail of materials. It will solve every problem.
If I buy some frozen smoke and then give it or sell it to you is it second-hand frozen smoke?.......
Yes and yes - It isn’t any supermaterial, but it is a super pain to make, since you have to use supercritical (very high pressure - 75 atm) carbon dioxide to get the water out of the gel. You make the gel in a water solution, and then dry it, but if you just let it dry, the surface tension forces destroy the gel as it’s drying, Answer replace the water with liquid CO2 pressurize above the critical point - heat to convert the liquid CO2 to a gas without evaporation, and then let the CO2 leave.
Are you gellin’?...............
Yeah, but the questions are: Is it Carbon Neutral? and Will AlGore approve?
Let’s ask the really tough question, will it pass through a 3-year old with out poisoning him?
I admit that articles can be total BS so you may end up being righton that, they ar esaying exactly that the material has gone through some major changes in the past few years and that they have solved the brittleness problem.
Also they are pretty specific about the improvements in property and the tests or uses that have thus far demonstraited those change.
I am not sure what it said about production costs...
Actually they are producing a set of golf clubs with aerogel.
if it’s such a good insulator, why isn’t it on the space shuttle?
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