Saturday, May 23, 2009

incredible Aerogel

clipped from dornob.com
Aerogel: See-Through, Strong as Steel & Ligher than Air
aerogel-light-as-air-material

Despite its incredibly low density, aerogel is one of the most powerful materials on the planet. It can support thousands of times its own weight, block out intense heat, cold and sound - yet it is 1,000 times less dense than glass, nearly as transparent and is composed of %99.8 air. The lowest-density silica-based aerogels are even lighter than air.

aerogel-amazing-weight-properties

Despite its fragility in certain regards and its incredible lack of density, aerogel has amazing thermal, acoustical  and electrical insulation properties as illustrated by the images here. A single one-pound block can also support half a ton of weight. NASA continues to find new space-based applications for this incredible material.

aerogel-super-thermal-insulation
While it is still expensive and has other limitations, this material - originally developed nearly a century ago but still undergoing experimentation - could prove to be one of the most influential materials of the 21st Century.
aerogel-ultra-low-density-insulator
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