ALL ABOUT AEROGEL

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ALL ABOUT AEROGEL
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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)
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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.

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What is aerogel good for?

• Tiny bubbles make amazing insulators
• 40 times better than fiberglass

NASA photo
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Aerogel insulates

• Aerogel panels in OMSIs roof!
• Keeps building warm
• Lets light through

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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
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Strength under pressure

• Mix alcohol and silicon together
• Under high pressure and temperature, replace
  liquid with gas

(CC) Stian Martinsen via Flickr 
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Aerogel is light

• NASA uses aerogel because its really
  lightweight.
• Cheaper to fly into space
• Used on the Stardust probe

NASA photo
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Catching comets

• Tiny particles of space dust get stuck in
  aerogel.

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Stardust _at_ home

• You can look at particles yourself!

http//stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ss_tutorial
.php?schedule_number10

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

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• 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.