DescentBB

...Freaky stuff! Check it out...

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=288928

o_o

r0xx0r ^_~

this could do a LOT to revolutionize everything from weaponry to household appliances. Question is.. is it biodegradable?

Last thing we need is to create another \"plastic\" crisis by utilizing a material which takes millions of years to biodegrade or expells toxic pollutants when melted down...

If this is a recyclable material, it very well COULD revolutionize the world.

I have much lurb for aerogel. It's amazing stuff.

Lothar wrote:I have much lurb for aerogel. It's amazing stuff.

It sounds like you're familar with the stuff Lothar - do you know it from your work or something - and if so, in what capacity?

i think i wrote some ZZZonline articles about Aerogel back in the day. It's been out a looooooongcat time.

seeing it in action is pretty spectacular.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=aerogel


I wouldn't worry Blue, it's easily crushed, it's like 99.999999% nothing. IIRC the latest aerogels are nothing but Carbon and um.... methanol or air or vacuum or something (i forget).

it pings & rings just like glass when you tap it.

Gekko71 wrote:do you know it from your work or something

I taught at an air and space museum, so I heard a lot about it in conjunction with Stardust.

Wow that's some cool stuff.

something i've always wondered: If the space between the fibers of Aerogel is vacuum - would it be possible to make an Aerogel solid that is lighter than air? that would be amazing, i'd pay $50 for that

roid wrote:something i've always wondered: If the space between the fibers of Aerogel is vacuum - would it be possible to make an Aerogel solid that is lighter than air? that would be amazing, i'd pay $50 for that

Dude! I'd pay $500 for that! Even $5,000! I mean, you could pretty much fly using it!
Wait, is it a vacuum?
Oh, and according to Wikipedia:
"The world's lowest-density solid is a silica nanofoam at 1 mg/cm3, which is the evacuated version of the record-aerogel of 1.9 mg/cm3. The density of air is 1.2 mg/cm3."

Also, it's worth remembering that Aerogel is very absorbent and don't last very long before disintegrating. Which makes it pretty incompatible as building material.

well thar you go!

evacuated silica nanofoam, 20% lighter than air itself

roid wrote:well thar you go!

evacuated silica nanofoam, 20% lighter than air itself

Then why doesn't it float up like an He2 balloon? At least, not in the video posted above.

coz it's not evacuated in those videos, it's probabaly full of air or aids or something.

btw helium is about 10% the weight of air, this EVACUATED aerogel is only 80% the weight of air. It's not gonna shoot anywhere too fast

Heh, caveat emptor! Dude spent $150 on non-evacuated aerogel. Or maybe he should have bought some evacugel?

If the aerogel was evacuated of all air, wouldn't the surrounding air pressure crush it flat when it was exposed to the atmosphere?

nope. It's like a thermos bottle, only without the glass.