LinkNotes: Aerogel

2009-05-30

Aerogel

It looks like frozen smoke. And it's the lightest solid material on the planet. Aerogel insulates space suits, makes tennis rackets stronger and could be used one day to clean up oil spills. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientist Alex Gash shows us some remarkable properties of this truly unique substance.

clipped from www.wired.com

A Solid That's Light as Air

Aerogel is the lightest solid known to science. It's also one of the most insulating materials on Earth, the most porous, and it's nearly transparent. Those last two properties made it an ideal choice for catching flecks of comet and interstellar dust on the recently-returned Stardust mission launched by NASA and JPL.

clipped from stardust.jpl.nasa.gov

Aerogel & Peter Tsou, JPL Scientist

clipped from stardust.jpl.nasa.gov

Flower On Aerogel Over A Flame

clipped from stardust.jpl.nasa.gov

Matches On Aerogel Over A Flame

clipped from stardust.jpl.nasa.gov

Aerogel Supporting A Brick

clipped from stardust.jpl.nasa.gov

Aerogel In Hand

clipped from www.aerogel.org

How is Aerogel Made?

The Start of an Aerogel: A Gel

Aerogel is the solid framework of a gel isolated from its liquid component, prepared in such a way as to preserve the framework’s pore structure (or at least most of it). In other words, aerogel is what would be left over if you could remove the liquid from a gel without it shrinking. This is most effectively done through a special technique called supercritical drying