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World's Lightest Solid

Posted by timothy on from the hull-foam dept.

Erazmus writes: "NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has manufactured the world's lightest solid. At only 3 milligrams per cubic centimeter, it's close to the density of air (1.2 milligrams per cubic centimeter). Spaceflight Now has the article. The article points to JPL's site, along with some amazing pictures."

2 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Antimatter? by rikennedy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    <p>In two places, the article claims aerogel to have a density "1000 times less" than that of glass. If that's true, then that means it has <i>negative</i> density.</p>
    <p>Consider this: What would be the density of something 0 times less dense than glass? (The same as that of glass, of course.) How about something 1 time less dense than glass? (Multiply the density of glass by 1 and subtract: It has 0 density.) So anything beyond 1 multiple means <i>it isn't there</i>.</p>

    --
    Rob
  2. Re:Old news .... by nucal · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What's worse is that the student made the breaktrough and all we know is the asshole advisor's name.