[Corvettaholic]

My buddy found this article for me:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4792180/

Its about this stuff called aerogel, which is almost all oxygen bonded together with a tiny bit of silicon dioxide. They have a neat picture where they apply a blowtorch to one end of it, and have crayons on the other end, less than an inch apart. No heat is felt. This is one nice insulator, better than a thermos you think?

[gregpawin]

Yeah, I've read about this quite a few times from various sources.  Its just silicon dioxide with a structure that gives it a density close to air to the point where a brick of it looks like a block of smoke where you can see things on the other side.  I remember reading a while back where this was one of the interesting materials that they wanted to manufacture in space because gravity inhibits the best kind of growth of this material.

[billnotgatez]

How Silica Aerogels Are Made
This is one way
http://eande.lbl.gov/ECS/aerogels/saprep.htm
The process is dangerous
There are also limitations to aerogels
http://eande.lbl.gov/ECS/aerogels/sawork.htm
Regards,
Bill

[Alex Caps]

I  have spent a lot of time researching aerogels.  I have made a couple monoliths and I must say, aerogels are very interesting.  Not even considering the applications, aerogel chemistry is VERY fun to do, the more established researchers are all very nice and helpful, and this stuff just looks cool.  Also, the field is not over-developed like many fields of chemistry, so there is room for innovation.  It is the material of the future.. here is a picture of one that I made:

http://bikeflat.com/albums/users/023_1A.sized.jpg