Aerogel

[Sackanaka]

http://www.unitednuclear.com/aerogel.htm

It looks awesome, but $30 for a small piece and $125 for a "large" is enough to make me think twice about purchasing.

So, has anyone had the pleasure of seeing/touching/using it? Is it worth buying?

[Biff_Loman]

I think some woofer cones are made from that stuff. Audax, if I remember correctly, used it.

I can understand why. I wonder how well damped it is. From the description, it sounds near perfect for a speaker diaphragm.

I once got a chart of materials that depicted various materials' damping vs. stiffness from my aerospace engineer friend. It appears that concrete is the optimal material for woofer cones; too bad it's not really practical.

[athman]

I love the claim that it weighs only three times that of air. I've never really wondered how much air weighs, until now.

I'm all for buying novel gadgets etc but what would one use this for? I don't have the need to insulate my crayons from a blowtorch, nor do I need to support an upended housebrick.

[athman]

Ok, so biff loman came up with a practical application of it, just at the same time as i was querying what it could be used for.

This is confusing, I'm a member of Audax, its a long distance cycling club. www.audax.org.au

[Sackanaka]

I found something fishy on that page.


Aerogel's density is just 3 milligrams per cubic centimeter.
Its melting point is 2,200 degrees F (1,200 degrees C).

...

A 3,000°F blowtorch under a thin slice of Aerogel
has no effect on the crayons on top.

Does the blowtorch produce flames <3000 degrees F ?

[Blue]

Yea, I was looking at this the other day. I'll point out the ferrofulid too. Amazing stuff.
http://www.wondermagnet.com/images/ferro1.jpg

It's a thin liquid, but creates amazing shapes in magnetic feilds. You wouldn't believe how little friction a magnet has once it's coated.

+Blue