Monday, 20 August 2007

Frozen Smoke



This Dunlop tennis racquet the first instance I've seen of Aerogel being used in a consumer product. Yes, it's been used recently by NASA to collect particles in space. No, it's not new (it was invented in 1931). It is however on the verge of breaking through into the mainstream and it's incredible stuff. It is the lightest solid and the lowest density solid in existence being made up of 99.8% air. In spite of this it can support thousands of times it's own weight and has outstanding insulation properties. It's touted as the biggest breakthrough in materials since Bakelite but it's still experiencing a few problems in application - Hugo Boss have made winter jackets from it but had to withdraw them because they got too hot. At the moment it costs more than Gold but this is sure to fall as it's use becomes more widespread...

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