Aerogels
Mason E. 2/8/2022
Aerogel is the world's lightest solid. Generally composed of 99% air aerogel has extraordinary thermal conductivity properties (shown to the right). Aerogel is an extremely porous material filled with nano pores that our eyes can't see because of how small they are. Aerogel is sometimes referred to as frozen smoke because of its wispy appearance.
Aerogel has a wide variety of uses for example in space technology you need a really good thermal insulator to do anything in space because up there it's roughly 3 kelvin or -454 degrees fahrenheit or -270 degrees celsius and I doubt that the human body han really survive temperatures that low, so aerogel one of our best insulators is used widely in spaceships.
Aerogel being a good insulator doesn't just have to be used in space, it can also be used in things like construction thanks to its strength. According to Penn state's center for nanoscale science a piece of aerogel the size of a person could hold 1000 pounds and would weigh less than a pound.(depending on the aerogel being used)
Another property of aerogel is its extreme hydrophobicity (meaning it repels water) because of this property it can be used in ocean exploration and protection of electronics when exploring underwater places.
Aerogel can be used in just about anything whether it be making extremely energy efficient buildings or just quality daylighting( this is because of how translucent aerogel particles are and how they disperse light it would act as a good skylight basically)aerogel is an extremely useful material with a lot of possibilities in the future and it is a material that I would watch closely.