Aerogel – Way Cool, But Expensive!

From Fox News: ‘Frozen Smoke’ Aerogels May Be Materials of Future

I was cruising through my subscriptions in Google Reader when I came across an article about silica aerogel on the Fox News site. Basically, aerogel is similar to glass but about 1000 times less dense. It’s 99.8% air and only weighs about three times as much as air does. It’s a great insulator – heat, sound, electricity, you name it. It’s also pretty darn strong. One caveat – it’s brittle so it can shatter if it’s dropped.

Cool pics and more after the jump –

Nasa photo – Caption: Another photo illustrating the excellent insulating properties of aerogel. The matches on top of the aerogel are protected from the flame underneath.

Nasa photo – Caption: A 2.5 kg brick is supported on top of a piece of aerogel weighing only 2 grams.

I’ve known about this stuff for years, but that’s just because I’m a geek . I got to thinking – ya know, it might be cool to have some of that stuff for myself . But where to buy it?

A quick search on Google turned up a few sources. I decided to check out the site and see what the pricing was and such. I found out that aerogel is rather expensive – a sample about the size of a sugar cube goes for about $30, a larger size about the size of a butane lighter is about $125. One Ebay seller has a single piece for sale that’s about six inches by six inches and about 1/2 inch thick. It’s $5,400 !

I might just have to buy a sample for myself and maybe a couple more as gifts. Always gotta have more cool stuff !