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The Amazing Properties of Aerogel

Posted by michael on from the it-slices-it-dices dept.

RideMax writes "We all know NASA is using a substance called 'aerogel' in the Stardust spacecraft to catch pieces of the Wild-2 comet. The NYT is running an article about some other amazing aerogel properties. My favorite quote: '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.'" We've looked at Aerogel before.

4 of 556 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Too much by WegianWarrior · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What if it was only used to certain walls where leakage was most common?


    Or perhaps to insulate between windowpanes? Since it's more or less transparent, it'll let the light in, but not heat out...

    --
    Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
  2. Paint is cheap, paintings aren't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Powder is cheap, but the bulk aerogel made from it is a little bit of a trick.

    Iron is pretty cheap too, but a single perfect crystal of appreciable size starts to make Platinum look positively affordable. Or graphite to diamond.

    It's not so much the atoms that make many things expensive so much as how they're put together.

  3. Re:Too much by Znork · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Insulation isnt really the problem anyway. It's easy to make a house you could heat with a candle. Modern houses in countries with cold winters have triple glazing and good insulation, with negligable heat loss through windows and walls.

    The problem is ventilation. Even apart from the issue that you'd suffocate, houses that are too insulated are almost guaranteed get mold problems. You need a constant airflow, and that's where you get the major heat loss. Of course, various techniques like heat exchangers exist to ameliorate this, but unfortunately the technology for 100% efficiency is not quite there yet.

  4. Re:Possible military application by 1s44c · · Score: 3, Insightful

    R-invisibility cloak. Just wear it and be hidden from all IR eyes in the sky... neat.#

    Just wear it and burn to death within an hour more like.

    You could always fill your pants with dry ice before putting it on, that might buy you another hour.