Scientists Claim 'Frozen Smoke' As Material That Will Change The World (Updated) :: General Science

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August 20, 2007

Scientists Claim 'Frozen Smoke' As Material That Will Change The World (Updated)

Topics: General Science

Scientists are calling it a material for the 21st century that could protect your home against bomb blasts (in the laboratory, a metal plate coated in 6mm of aerogel was left almost unscathed by a direct dynamite blast), mop up oil spillages and even help man to fly to Mars. It's one of the world's lightest solids, can withstand a direct blast of 1kg of dynamite and protect against heat from a blowtorch at more than 1,300 C.

It's real name is Aerogel, but it is nicknamed "frozen smoke." It's made by extracting water from a silica gel, then replacing it with gas such as carbon dioxide. And it may even eventually be used to make hydrogen-based fuels.

Some call it "Blue Smoke," it's about 1/10 the weight of styrofoam, and pound for pound it's more expensive than gold. You can see it touched and held in this video:

Here's what happens when a piece of conventional armor-grade polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is hit by a high-momentum projectile (the momentum is eight times higher than that of a .45-caliber bullet).

After seeing the above video, now look at this one showing what happens when a piece of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) made with aerogel is hit by the same type of high-momentum projectile as seen in the above video.