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Re: Aero-Gel
Peter Graham Thomas <Peter@mold.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>There was an article on "Aero-Gel's" a few days ago on the radio.
>
>They seem to have remarkable insulating properties, but I havn't heard
>of this 'material' before or since. Can anyone enlighten me?
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Pete Thomas | "First you forget their names, and then their faces
>Yr Wyddgrug | Next you forget to pull your zipper up
>Wales UK | Then you forget to pull your zipper down"....
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A friend of mine who once worked in a place that had something to do with them
told me that aero-gels are a whole class of substances that ( I guess ) are
gel-like and are light ( hence the name - they are used in aero-type situations
) They do, however also have the property of containing many little bubbles,
which gives the internal structure a very large surface area (similar to a
sponge). Surface area, if you recall your first-year physics, is very
important in determining the capacitance of a capacitor. So, if aero-gel
technology develops, super-capacitors would become a possible contender for
electric car- technology. I believe the goal was 1 Farad at 100 V, which would
give you an energy density greater than that of gasoline. I think that the
original intent was to employ that tremendous energy density for bombs (you
could probably time the release better with a capacitor).
--
-dave