Tuesday, August 21, 2007

A miracle material Or Frozen Smoke

A miracle material for the 21st century could protect your home against bomb blasts, mop up oil spills and even help man fly to Mars.

Aerogel, one of the world's lightest solids, can withstand a direct blast of 1 kilogram of dynamite and protect against heat from a blowtorch at more than 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Scientists are working to discover new applications for the substance, ranging from the next generation of tennis rackets to super-insulated spacesuits for a manned mission to Mars.



It is expected to rank alongside wonder products from previous generations such as Bakelite in the 1930s and carbon fiber in the 1980s.

Mercouri Kanatzidis, a chemistry professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., 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 jewelry."

Aerogel is nicknamed "frozen smoke" and is made by extracting water from a gel made from silica or another metal oxide, then replacing it with a gas such as carbon dioxide.

The result is a substance that is capable of insulating against extreme temperatures and of absorbing pollutants such as crude oil.

The first aerogel was invented by an American chemist on a bet in 1931, but early versions were so brittle and costly that it was largely consigned to laboratories.

It was not until a decade ago that NASA started taking an interest in the substance and putting it to a more practical use.

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.

In 2002 Aspen Aerogel, a company created by NASA, produced a stronger and more flexible version of the gel. It is now being used to develop an insulated lining in space suits for the first manned mission to Mars, scheduled for 2018.

Mark Krajewski, a senior scientist at the company, believes that an 18 mm (three-quarters of an inch) layer of aerogel would be sufficient to protect astronauts from temperatures as low as minus 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

"It is the greatest insulator we've ever seen," he said.

Aerogel is also being tested for future bombproof housing and armor for military vehicles. In the laboratory, a metal plate coated in 6 mm (a quarter of an inch) of aerogel was left almost unscathed by a direct dynamite blast.

It also has environmental credentials. Aerogel is described by scientists as the "ultimate sponge," with millions of tiny pores on its surface making it ideal for absorbing pollutants in water.

Kanatzidis has created a new version of aerogel designed to mop up lead and mercury from water. Other versions are designed to absorb oil spills.

He is optimistic that it could be used to deal with environmental catastrophes such as the Sea Empress spillage in 1996, when 72,000 tons of crude oil were released into the Irish Sea just off the coast of south Wales.

Aerogel is also being used for everyday applications. Dunlop, the sports-equipment company, has developed a range of squash and tennis rackets strengthened with aerogel, which are said to deliver more power.

Earlier this year Bob Stoker, 66, from Nottingham, central England, became the first Briton to have his property insulated with aerogel.

"The heating has improved significantly. I turned the thermostat down five degrees. It's been a remarkable transformation," he said.

Mountain climbers are also converts. Last year Anne Parmenter, a British mountaineer, climbed Mt. Everest using boots that had aerogel insoles, as well as sleeping bags padded with the material.

She said at the time: "The only problem I had was that my feet were too hot, which is a great problem to have as a mountaineer."

However, it has failed to convince the fashion world. Hugo Boss created a line of winter jackets out of the material, but had to withdraw them after complaints that they were too hot.

Although aerogel is classed as a solid, 99 percent of the substance is made up of gas, which gives it a cloudy appearance.

Scientists say that because it has so many millions of pores and ridges, if one cubic centimeter of aerogel were unraveled, it would fill an area the size of a football field.

Its nano-sized pores can not only collect pollutants like a sponge, but they also act as air pockets.

Researchers believe that some versions of aerogel, made from platinum oxides, could be used to speed up the production of hydrogen. As a result, aerogel may be used to make hydrogen-based fuels.
Posted by Ajay :: 5:11 PM :: 0 comments

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