Aerogel

Aerogels are some of the world’s lightest solid materials because they consist of 99.98% air by volume. It was first created by Samuel Stephens Kistler in 1931but its usage in mostly more modern when in the 80s carbon aerogels were developed. Despite being a light weight material, aerogel has some pretty heavyweight uses. It is used in all sorts of ways from undersea piping and thermal insulation to solar dust collectors on the International Space Station. Aerogel is derived from a gel that has had the liquid part replaced by a gas. It’s translucent, nicknamed frozen smoke, solid air, or blue smoke, and feels like Styrofoam to the touch.

I have a feeling aerogel and its derivatives probably have many more uses than I have discovered searching with Google. And I wonder about its carbon footprint and how it degradable it might or might not be. I wonder about its impact on the natural world and how much its benefits weigh in the big picture of things.

Being on Andros, surrounded by alternately crashing or gently lapping ocean beneath starry skies at night, waking to birdsong before the dawn, and trekking dusty roads to town in the heat of the day sometimes sends my mind wondering and wandering. Just some thoughts...