Aerogel
from "Using the Right Bait to Catch a Comet"
By Chris Dixon, NY Times

"When you look at this," says Dr. Tsou, holding the aerogel up, "you don't know where to focus. That's why some people call it solid smoke."

Made of 99.6 percent empty space, the little cube is indeed barely there, with a density one-hundredth that of the hand that holds it.

To make this strange material, scientists start with a liquid alcohol like ethanol and mix it with silicon dioxide to form a gel. Then, through a process called supercritical drying, the alcohol is forced out of the gel, typically with high-pressure carbon dioxide. With this drying process, the gel does not collapse or lose its volume. It appears holographic because the silicon dioxide scatters shorter wavelengths of light much like air in the daytime sky.

"It has 14 Guinness Book of World Records-type properties," Dr. Tsou said. "It's the lowest density of any solid, and it has the highest thermoinsulation properties. Though it would be very expensive, you could take a two- or three-bedroom house, insulate it with aerogel, and you could heat the house with a candle. But eventually the house would become too hot."

Additionally, aerogel slows soundwaves to about 10 percent of their speed in air, and because it has such a vast surface area for its volume, its use as a filtration agent could increase the capacity of desalination plants a thousandfold.

Because aerogel is transparent and releases light when struck by certain high-energy radiation, it provides an excellent means of counting atomic particles. It also has incredible compressive strength. "It can take 2,000 times its body weight without damage," Dr. Tsou said. NASA's Web site shows a 2-gram cube of aerogel (less than 0.1 ounce) supporting a 2.5-kilogram brick (about 5.5 pounds).

Because of its ability to keep electronics on both the 1997 Mars Pathfinder and the current rover, Spirit, at room temperature in the face of minus-100-degree cold, aerogel will probably remain the insulator of choice on Mars missions for some time, Dr. Tsuyuki said.

He added that he had proposed aerogel as the collection medium for a future flight studying dust in the upper Martian atmosphere.

"I would imagine that there are ideas out there that we haven't even thought of," he said.

The article was about using Aerogel to collect specimens from a comets tail. What really caught my attention though was the quote above. In a time when we are desperately trying to reduce our energy consumption/dependency, this seems like it could be a powerful weapon in doing so. The person who first figures how to mass-produce Aerogel in large quantities and at a low cost is going to be one rich son of a bitch.

posted by awiggins | 03:44 PM