ALL ABOUT AEROGEL

Aerogel is nanotechnology

• A nanometer is 1 billionth of a meter.

• A hair is 80,000 nm wide.

• Aerogel is a glass foam with bubbles 10 nm wide.

Scanning electron microscope picture of aerogel (Photo: Mohan Edirisinghe, University College, London and Paolo Colombo. Used by permission)

Why is aerogel blue?

• The sky, glaciers and aerogel all have tiny particles or bubbles that scatter light.

• Blue scatters the most, so they all look blue.

What is aerogel good for?

• Tiny bubbles make amazing insulators

• 40 times better than fiberglass

NASA photo

Aerogel insulates

• Aerogel panels in OMSI’s roof!

• Keeps building warm

• Lets light through

Aerogel is strong

• Aerogel is super strong for its weight.

• A 2.5 kg brick supported on top of a piece of aerogel weighing only 2 grams – over 1000 times lighter!

NASA photo

Strength under pressure

• Mix alcohol and silicon together

• Under high pressure and temperature, replace liquid with gas

(CC) Stian Martinsen via Flickr 

Aerogel is light

• NASA uses aerogel because it’s really lightweight.

• Cheaper to fly into space

• Used on the Stardust probe

NASA photo

Catching comets

• Tiny particles of space dust get stuck in aerogel.

Stardust @ home

• You can look at particles yourself!

http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ss_tutorial.php?schedule_number=10

• http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

• This project was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ESI-0532536.

• Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.