Brief introduction of aerogel

Aerogels, also known as xerogels. When most solvents are removed from the gel, the liquid content in the gel is much less than the solid content, or the spatial network structure of the gel is full of gas, and its appearance is solid. This phenomenon is called xerogel, also known as aerogel. Such as gelatin, gum Arabic, silica gel, hair, nails, etc. Aerogels also have the properties of gels, that is, swelling, thixotropy and separability.

Extended data:

Aerogel is sometimes called "solid smoke" or "frozen smoke" because of its translucent color and ultra-light weight. This new material looks fragile, but it is actually very durable and can withstand the highest temperature of 1400 degrees Celsius. These characteristics of aerogels have many uses in space exploration. Aerogel materials are used in the Russian space station "Peace" and the American Mars Pathfinder.

A new aerogel developed by NASA, with a density of only 3 mg per cubic centimeter, has been officially selected as "the lowest density solid in the world" by Guinness World Records.

This kind of aerogel is translucent and light blue, and its weight is extremely light, so people also call it "solid smoke". This new aerogel was developed by Dr. Steven Jones, a material scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Its main component is glass-like silica, but because it is 99.8% air, its density is only one thousandth of that of glass.