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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."

5 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. good recipe: by b_pretender · · Score: 5, Interesting
    quote: "It's probably not possible to make aerogel any lighter than this because then it wouldn't gel""

    That's just a challenge to the Materials Science Engineers. Maybe that can make He-gel or H2-gel and get the *solid* material to be lighter than air... at least until gas-diffusion takes over and replaces all of the H2/He with O2. A thin membrane around the outside might even prevent this from happening! I can't wait for (air)floating surfboards and cloud-cities.

    take a look at the aerogel photogallery.

    1. Re:good recipe: by Myco · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What if the gel were manufactured in a partial vacuum? Might it still gel with a lower air density, and still retain its rigidity when brought into a regular atmosphere? After all, it's supposed to be very rigid so assuming it would gel at all, it should be strong enough to hold when pressurized.

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  2. Lighter-than-air idea by crow · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What if you made a hollow sphere of aerogel? How large could you make it and still be structurally sound while containing a vacuum? Or perhaps fill it with Helium? Either way, you could make blocks that are lighter than air.

    The engineering possibilities...

  3. Re:The big question: by PhuCknuT · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Ants can get through fiberglass insulation too, insulation isn't supposed to keep animals and roots and things out.

    Also, the little stones that are being collected at travelling thousands of miles per hour. If ants could travel that fast then you might have something to worry about!

  4. Re:Insulation by spike+hay · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Actually, one of the things they are working on with this aerogel is to make it more transparent for window use. 20 times less thermal conductivity! Also, now they are selling warm aerogel jackets for large sums of money. Now, we always here about firemen getting killed in fires. Why don't we equip firemen with aerogel suits. Aerogel would keep them insulated better than Nomex. Also aerogel resists heat better than Nomex. If my memory serves me right, nomex (special plastic) can withstand 800 degrees. I believe aerogel can withstand about 2,000.

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