Touching a True Scientific Ghost

[BSGCORP]

Aerogel - truly a ghost...

WHAT, you may ask, is aerogel? Aerogel is the lightest and lowest-density solid known to exist. It is typically 50-99.5% air, yet can hold (theoretically) 500 to 4,000 times its weight in applied force. Aerogel can have surface areas ranging from 250 to 3,000 square meters per gram, meaning that a cubic inch (2.5 cm x 2.5 cm x 2.5 cm) of aerogel flattened-out (again theoretically) would have more surface area than an entire football field! Aerogel's superlow density makes it useful as a lightweight structural material, and its superhigh internal surface area makes it a superinsulating solid material. For those of you who have always wanted to touch an aerogel, it feels like styrofoam. Silica aerogel is transparent with a blue color.

[Atom]

Sounds interesting, like a spider web.

[TheFriend]

Amazing and interesting: German Wikipedia ---> Aerogel

[3ncryptabl3_lick]

Ya that stuff has been around for a long time. Can't wait to play with some though I'm sure it will be another 10 years or more before it becomes a material directly available to the public for purchase.

[Rankenstein]

They use it to catch particles of cosmic dust on space missions.