This is a picture of what German Scientists say is the lightest material in the world. It is a network of porous carbon tubes that is interwoven at the nano and micro level to make the lightest material in the world. The substance weighs just 0.2 milligrams per cubic centimeter. It is 75 times lighter than Styrofoam (Thank God, because those Styrofoam cups are exhausting to lift). Scientists of Kiel University (KU) and Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) named their joint creation aerographite.
Researchers describe aerographite as “jet black, remains stable, is electrically conductive, ductile and non-transparent.”
The new material may allow revolutionary uses in electronics, aviation, and satellites to water purification.
Source: MSNBC
Matt Johnson,
“Gold is the best conductor of electricity.”
Not at all. Gold is prized for its corrosion resistance, not its conductance. Silver is the most freely conductive metal.
http://www.weather.com/weather/right-now/53402
Here you go. Looks like it might be coming your way.
It’s still raining, but not as hard. I don’t know which direction it’s going. Look on weather.com.
Better be careful. You’ll loose your finger.
It’s raining in Wisconsin right now. Second time today. Might have to mow the yard if this keeps up.
That was long ago in my misspent youth (I’m more worried about the mercury spill that I cleaned up [after I caused it…] back then). Send the rain on over to Michigan–I haven’t had to mow the yard in a month…
It takes more than that. You have to have liquid nitrogen. In a controlled container.
A controlled container? I always just filled my dewar from the big tank in back of the physics building and then poured myself (insulated) mugs of frothy coldness as needed. If you are careful you can hold liquid nitrogen in your hand until it boils off–it feels kind of neat (I believe this is an example of the Leidenfrost effect).
Except for ceramic at very low temperatures.
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one of my favorite things….just add water and stir…..
but you’ll look cool (and isn’t that better anyway? )
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absolutely 😉
Ceramic. Superconductors. Electricity loses energy through heat.
Gold is the best conductor of electricity. Except for ceramic at very low temperatures.
I definitely need some of this!
‘Because Aerographite is electrically conductive and chemical-resistant, the scientists believe that the material could be used in ultra-lightweight batteries or supercapacitors. The material also has a few other interesting properties that make it hydrophobic, a good insulator, readily absorb visible light, and opaque to X-rays.
So…invisibility cloaks, anyone?’
Continuous Feline Woosty,
Not so much invisible as black (and it will block that perv Superman’s X-ray vision…). So people will be able to see you in your cloak, but you’ll look cool (and isn’t that better anyway? 😉 )
bettykath
http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Smilies
Slarti:
you can make balloon animals with helium.
Yeah, but then they just float away…
Slarti:
Well ceramic knives are pretty interesting.
Where did they get that? Is there a patent? Is it made from petroleum?
The chem nerd inside me is having an orgasm.
When are they going to make a material out of helium?
It would be lousy to make hats out of,…. but I might buy stock
in a brassiere manufacturer.
“When are they going to make a material out of helium?”
Um… never? None of the noble gasses can be part of a molecule (except possibly under extreme conditions), so you can’t make anything but helium out of helium…
I think God gave up on us when we started using styrofoam. ; )
My nephew showed me how to use emoticons on fb im. but he’s not here to teach me how to use them on the blog. : (
You are probably right Mike S.! God wouldn’t want us humans to be fooling with anything lighter than styrofoam! 🙂
Jet Black eh? Sound like a work of the Devil.
Bron,
Unfortunately my colleague hasn’t been able to get the investment needed to do anything more than build small-scale prototypes yet. Being a manufacturing business which is dependent on economies of scale to achieve a viable business model, it’s not exactly a cheap startup… and, somehow, I doubt that this new material can be easily produced in industrial quantities yet. I’m reminded of a conversation that I had with a neighbor who was giving me a tour of the MSU cyclotron (he was part of the team who built it). I was talking about the high-Tc superconductors that I was making in my professorial assistantship and he said that was all well and good, but to come back when I could supply him with 2 miles of ductile wiring… 😉
Slartibartfast call your office.