Aerogel - or 'frozen smoke' - might be 98.2 percent air, but it sure doesn't sound like it.
First developed in the 1930s, aerogel is a synthetic material that's translucent but solid; dry and rigid, but ultra-lightweight. Used in a range of manufacturing industries, including wetsuits, cosmetics, and weapons, it's produced by replacing the liquid component of a gel with gas via a process called supercritical drying. The gel used can range from silicon or alumnia to chromia or tin dioxide, which means it doesn't have a defined chemical formula, but does have a set structure that you have to get right in order to create its various unusual properties.
What does it feel like to hold? Over at Aerogel.com, they describe the sensation as a cross between a Styrofoam peanut, "that green floral potting foam used for potting fake flowers", and a Rice Krispie treat:
"In general aerogels are pretty fragile. Inorganic aerogels are friable and and will snap when bent or, in the case of very low density aerogels, when poked, cleaving with an irregular fracture. This said, depending on their density, aerogels can usually hold a gently applied load of up to 2,000 times their weight and sometimes more.
But since aerogels are so low in density, it doesn’t take much force to achieve a pressure concentration equivalent to 2,000 times the material’s weight at a given point. The amount of pressure required to crush most aerogels with your fingers is about what it would take to crush a piece of Cap’n Crunch cereal."
I need a piece of aerogel in my life.
Credit: Prof. C. Jeffrey Brinker
Source: turlian
First developed in the 1930s, aerogel is a synthetic material that's translucent but solid; dry and rigid, but ultra-lightweight. Used in a range of manufacturing industries, including wetsuits, cosmetics, and weapons, it's produced by replacing the liquid component of a gel with gas via a process called supercritical drying. The gel used can range from silicon or alumnia to chromia or tin dioxide, which means it doesn't have a defined chemical formula, but does have a set structure that you have to get right in order to create its various unusual properties.
What does it feel like to hold? Over at Aerogel.com, they describe the sensation as a cross between a Styrofoam peanut, "that green floral potting foam used for potting fake flowers", and a Rice Krispie treat:
"In general aerogels are pretty fragile. Inorganic aerogels are friable and and will snap when bent or, in the case of very low density aerogels, when poked, cleaving with an irregular fracture. This said, depending on their density, aerogels can usually hold a gently applied load of up to 2,000 times their weight and sometimes more.
But since aerogels are so low in density, it doesn’t take much force to achieve a pressure concentration equivalent to 2,000 times the material’s weight at a given point. The amount of pressure required to crush most aerogels with your fingers is about what it would take to crush a piece of Cap’n Crunch cereal."
I need a piece of aerogel in my life.
Credit: Prof. C. Jeffrey BrinkerSource: turlian
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