Scientists hail ‘frozen smoke’ as material that will change world

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The Timesonline reports that Aerogel is one of the world’s lightest solids. It can withstand a direct blast of 1kg of dynamite and protect against heat from a blowtorch at more than 1,300C.

And they are working hard to find more applications for the substance, whether it be in Tennis rackets or in super insulated space suits.

To give you an idea about just how revolutionary they think this is, it is being comapred to wonder products of previous generations, like Bakelite in the 30's, carbon fiber in the 80's and silicone in the 90's.

Mercouri Kanatzidis, a chemistry professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said: “It is an amazing material. It has the lowest density of any product known to man, yet at the same time it can do so much. I can see aerogel being used for everything from filtering polluted water to insulating against extreme temperatures and even for jewellery.”

It is nicknamed "Frozen Smoke" and it is made by removing water from silica gel, then replacing it with a gas like carbon dioxide. And suddenly you have a substance that can insulate against extreme temperatures and can even absorb oil.

How was it invented? In 1931 an American chemist took a bet, but since the early versions were both expensive and brittle it was used mostly in laboratories. About ten years ago NASA began finding more practical uses for it.

In 1999 the space agency fitted its Stardust space probe with a mitt packed full of aerogel to catch the dust from a comet’s tail. It returned with a rich collection of samples last year.

Aspen aerogel(A NASA created company) in 2002 came up with a stronger and more flexible version of the gel. They are developing an insulated lining for space suits for the Mars mission in 2018.

The possibilities seem endless. From bombproof homes, to stronger armor on military tanks as well as helping to clean up the environment. They call it the ultimate sponge because it has millions of tiny pores that can absorb pollutants in water. They already created one that removes lead and mercury from water.

One discovery will make a large difference very soon in our lives.

Photo from Boingboing.net It is a picture of aero-gel or frozen smoke. I hope that will be good enough as it will not let me edit it in another way