Real life catches up on Sci-Fi: Aerogel


	Real life catches up on Sci-Fi: Aerogel

akagugo

8-24-2007 1:47 AM

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tags:

material science, science fiction, insulator, shock absorber, filter, environment

akagugo says:

Research is about foolish bets: this one yielded a revolutionary material!

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/78f712e3-af3d-4dbe-8461-0068c9759220/21D5561B-4BBE-42CF-B41E-9011AA99F255/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=288928" href="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=288928" style="font-size: 11px;">news.ninemsn.com.au</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=288928">Miracle material 'could shape next century'</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=288928"><P>t's almost as light as air, looks like frozen smoke and can withstand a direct dynamite blast.</p> <P>Its name is aerogel, and although it was discovered over 75 years ago, it may just be the material that will shape the next century.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=288928">
Aerogel is the product of a lab bet in 1931, where a scientist was dared to remove the liquid from a gel and replace it with gas.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=288928"><P>Chemist Steven Kistler removed the liquid from the gel by heating it, then replacing it with methanol.</p> <P>The end result? "Aerojelly", which is a transparent ice-like material that feels like Styrofoam but possesses some unique qualities that scientists are only now utilising.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=288928">Environmentalists should be equally as excited — as aerogel's amazing absorbing capabilities mean it could be used to clean oil spills and remove other pollutants from water.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=288928"><DIV id="noresource"><DIV id="image"><IMG align="absmiddle" alt="Aerogel is almost as light as air, yet it can withstand a direct dynamite blast. (NASA)" src="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/img/scitech/2208_aerogel_sp.jpg" /></DIV></DIV><DIV id="body"><P><B>By Sean Cusick</B>
ninemsn</P></DIV></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/21D5561B-4BBE-42CF-B41E-9011AA99F255/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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