subscribe to our feed.
Do you remember when NASA did the StarDust program? I think it was in 1999. Anyway, the StarDust program sent a satellite into the coma of a comet. This is the ball of gas surrounding the nucleus of a comet. They were trying to catch debris off of the comet in an attempt to study it. Part of the problem, however, is these tiny particles travel 20 times faster than a bullet. That kind of speed makes catching the particles very difficult. In fact, most methods of catching them end up injuring either the device of the particles. NASA needed a way to catch the particles intact. That’s where aerogel came in.
…
Aerogel (we will speak of the silica kind here) is a bizarre substance with many interesting properties. It is also known as Solid Smoke, hence the title. Aerogel has a transparent appearance, as you can see from the picture. Aerogel acts as a great insulator. You can see the picture below where matches are being shielded from the open flame. Pretty impressive. Another fascinating property of aerogel is that it is a strong desiccant. That means that it will draw water readily. In fact, if you handle aerogel for more than a few minutes, you should wear gloves. That’s because aerogel will draw the water out of your skin and leave it scaly and patchy. Aerogel is also extremely strong and yet brittle. It is able to hold 2,000 times its own weight. This is due to its extremely porous network which acts as a great load balance system. Aerogel also readily absorbs infrared radiation and can therefore work well in greenhouses.
These amazing properties lend aerogels to numerous applications. Researchers have also come up with many mixtures of aerogels to change applications. Some will glow in the presence of certain light wavelengths. Others can be made to be flexible and made into garments with great insulation properties. There are also derivatives that make aerogels more transparent, for use in windows.
But NASA liked aerogels because they are extremely light. They also can trap the comet particles where other solids and gases have failed. The picture above is of a comet particle that was trapped by an aerogel collector. And the picture below shows the aerogel collector “mit.” Amazingly, Aerogel contains 99% air! Not a bad material that was first created by Steven Kisler in 1931 because of a simple bet.
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
[…] PaulTech can be ahead when it comes to technology news. For example, back in February of 2007, Paul wrote an article about Aerogel and how it was used to capture comet particulates for NASA and their research. In this article, he […]