I Waterproofed Myself With Aerogel!

Aerogel is the world's lightest solid, first recognized by inventor Samuel Kistler in 1931. It has a distinctive metallic ring when struck.

• Excellent thermal insulator • Breaks easily and is fragile • Has unique sound properties

Despite extraordinary thermal insulation properties, aerogel is difficult to work with due to its brittleness.

A combination of silica aerogel particles with non-flammable binder creates a more usable form that can be applied to skin.

Blowtorch flames reach at least 1500 degrees Celsius and can get as hot as 2000 degrees Celsius.

Aerogel mixed with binder is applied around a finger, then exposed to blowtorch flame while the binder burns.

• Finger does not feel hot despite extreme heat exposure • Thermal imaging shows aerogel at nearly 900 degrees Celsius • The thin aerogel layer provides exceptional insulation

The material successfully insulates by preventing heat transfer through the aerogel barrier to the skin beneath.

A thin layer of air trapped against the skin due to aerogel coating creates total internal reflection, making skin appear silvery.

Light reflects off the water-air interface through total internal reflection, preventing water from directly contacting the skin.

• The body feels more buoyant than usual • After exiting water, the body feels completely dry • The experience feels unusual and strange

Waterproofing achieved by coating the body with aerogel particles from a bucket.

Normal silica aerogel is hydrophilic with OH groups that absorb water, causing the aerogel structure to collapse and ruin the material.

• Ice cube-sized piece of aerogel contains half a football field of surface area • Aerogel can absorb up to 25 times its weight in water • This is due to nano-scale sponge-like structure

A hydrophobe chemical replaces 30% of OH groups, creating non-polar groups that repel water instead of absorbing it.

Hydrophobic aerogel repels water completely, bouncing water off and remaining unchanged even after months in water.

Physical insecticide uses aerogel to absorb oils and moisture from insect outer skin, causing them to dry out, instead of using neurotoxins.

• Company Opium in Italy makes museum cases including the case for Mona Lisa • Aerogels act as passive moisture regulators • Absorbs excess moisture when it increases, releases moisture when it decreases

NASA Insight Mission used aerogel with zeolite particles to maintain vacuum inside seismometers by absorbing moisture and gases from instrument components.

Aerogel applications require no power consumption and are very lightweight.

• Aerogels can be made from silica, polymers, and other materials • All contain nano-sized pores around 20 nanometers • All are over 50% air, making them lightweight

Silica aerogel provides 2-3 times better insulation than styrofoam. Polymer aerogels insulate 1.5-2 times better than styrofoam with better mechanical properties.

Polyimide aerogel chemistry comes from NASA, called Martian tape internally, is non-flammable and feels like wood, trading some insulation for durability.

Fiberglass-aerogel composite blankets can be flexed, cut, sewn, and wrapped. Safe to use with readily expelled silica particles, used to insulate subsea oil pipelines with 1 centimeter thickness equaling 3 centimeters of mineral wool.