Aerogel-a mixture of air and silica-is a material that looks like a miracle. It hardly exists because the material is 99% air. [NileRed] wants to make his own work. He recorded his work in a recent video, which you can see below.

If you decide to replicate his results, please use tetramethyl orthosilicate carefully. He said this:

The best part is that when it is in your eyes, it will dive below the surface and the particles are too small to be removed. As a result, you may be permanently blind.

It will also mess up your lungs, so you may need a vent hood to really solve this problem. It's not cheap either. Other things you need are easier to handle: methanol, distilled water, and ammonia.

The process involves developing silica gel and then letting it dry. It sounds simple, but you will see in the video that it is not as simple as it sounds. [NileRed] Makes it harder because he wants to make beautiful aerogel shapes, even if it is very fragile. The construction of the mold is actually very clever, and you need to go to the dollar store.

Dry materials require more methanol to replace water. You can then remove the methanol, leaving air in the material. Doing so requires carbon dioxide to drive methanol away, and then quickly convert liquid carbon dioxide into gas. The sous-vide cooking pot has found new uses in this process.

This is not a quick project. The video is 43 minutes long, and we can’t think of where you would cut anything except to promote other videos in the last few minutes.

Given that you can buy aerogel discs or cylinders for around $40, we are not sure if we will rush to replicate this experiment. On the other hand, we were very impressed with this work and it was interesting to see the solution to the problem.

There are other materials that can form aerogels, including ceramics. [Ben Krasnow] made a similar video in the past, using a very similar process, but he didn't have the clever mold used by [NileRed].

I'm waiting for the Jell-O brand version, you just need to boil some air in the kettle, then add it to the little bag that is barely there, stir and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour.

I think it is already available. Isn't it dehydrated water next to it?

What do you smoke? It takes more than half an hour for the jelly to set.

The specific heat capacity of one quart of air is much smaller than that of one quart of water: -P

Can he make beryllium aerogel?

Why would you do this to NileRed? This is a terrible picture.

Indeed, they should definitely change it!

This must be one of NileRed's best videos to date. It is surprising how simple he assembled the drilling rig to promote CO2 supercritical. There seems to be some relatively simple automation space to eliminate some human factors and obtain more predictable results, but it may not be worth it unless he needs the equipment in future projects.

It seems that it can be done without paying more than $2,000 for special-purpose pipe fittings, and many of these joints should be brazed.

I am glad that he switched to a yellow belt. Watching him use that thin thing, I feel terrified. 1300 psi is terrible.

Aerogels are easy, and getting easier and cheaper. I started doing this at the University of Lyon in the 1980s. Just make sure you have the correct safety gear and take your time at the beginning. You will be faster.

How about the application of polyester thermal bonding insulation? Filling?

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