Aerogel looks like a slice of cloud.

The term Aerogel comes from two words – Air and Gel. And there is history to that name!

• Aerogel is an ultralight material made from gel and gas. It's been nicknamed "frozen smoke" or "solid cloud" because of its ethereal appearance.

• Scientists have created more than a dozen recipes for different types of aerogel, but they all share a similar process: mix chemicals together, let them settle into a wet gel, and then suck all of the liquid out. The result is a substance of extremely low density that is actually 99 percent air.

• Because it's made primarily of air and air is such a terrible heat conductor, placing a layer of Aerogel between a flower and a flame will protect the flower from getting destroyed.

Discovery of Aerogel

• In 1931, Samuel Kistler found that it was possible to remove the liquid from gels. 

• By increasing the temperature and pressure, he forced the liquid into a super-critical fluid state, with properties of both a liquid and a gas. By partially dropping the pressure he was able to remove most of the fluid as the vessel was slowly depressurised and cooled. 

• With the temperature still elevated, any remaining fluid reverted to a gas phase instead of a liquid phase and on cooling to ambient temperatures so that a solid aerogel was left behind.

• His discovery has recently found applications in catalysts, sensors, thermal insulation, electrical conductors, and for water treatment. 

• NASA has used aerogels to insulate their Martian Rovers from extreme temperatures. The recently completed Stardust mission returned pristine space dust from a comet safely trapped in an aerogel net.

• Another NASA project, the Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator, is working on a re-entry vehicle where an aerogel coating would help protect the craft from overheating.

Thus, aerogel becomes a highly effective insulating material from any solid material with low thermal conductivity. Developed by Aspen Aerogels and 2 to 8 times more effective than conventional insulation products, AeroGel offers the most suitable options for use in different applications by transforming it into an extremely strong, durable, thin and flexible insulating material.

Advantages of Aerogel insulation products:-

• Lowest heat transmittance compared to any industrial insulation product
• 2 to 8 times more insulation performance than traditional methods
• Same or better insulation performance with lower weight and less volume
• Significant savings in operations and in cost.

Physical properties of Aerogel:-

• The reason why Aerogel looks translucent is because of the fact that much of the material is just air. This also explains its very low density.

• They are the lightest solids on earth and even a six-foot man-sized block of Aerogel will only weigh about one pound. The Guinness World Record for the lightest 3D printed material is a graphene Aerogel printed by Dong Lin.

• Aerogel has other unique physical properties, and one among them is the incredible insulation against heat (0.023 W/mK at 100˚C).

• Aerogel also has excellent acoustic properties, boasting 10 to 1000 times better sound insulation than polyurethane forms.

• Since the structure consists of just 3% solid, Aerogel is very fragile. The two main solid material used for the preparation of Aerogel is silica and carbon.

Here is the video of world's lightest solid:-

https://youtu.be/AeJ9q45PfD0

I found this solid extremely interesting and it is one the craziest thing on earth,which you may never heard of.

#taibanaeemkhan