This Is Now The World's Lightest Material

I wonder how hard it is to manufacture and how it compares to other carbon aerogels when used in supercapaciters.

This may be a stupid question, but why is the carbon aerogel perched upon the stamen when if it is 1/6 the density of air should be floating away?

Am I missing something really basic here?

I was wondering the same thing, BurntFerret.

The article is unclear, but my guess is that the material in a vacuum is 1/6 the weight of air, but air fills the internal space, making it 1 and 1/6 the weight of air

Weight and density are related but they are not the same thing. Its still weighs more than air but the molecules have more distance between them than air.

Ok so in principle if you put one atom thick coating of carbon over this material and make the vacuum in the middle it will fly?

@ Windex,

If the density is less then air, then weight of the object should be less then the weight of an equal volume of air. There fore it should be buoyant.

Nrgale is right, the material is lighter than air, but its cavities fill with air, giving it a density of 1+1/6 that of air ; 1/6 that of air in vacuum.

If you were able to build an envelope that would have no weight and that would be able to keep air from penetrating the lattice, it would indeed float up.

There is an inaccuracy in the article, though. Even though aerogels were used to cradle comet dust, they were not originally designed for that ; they were created as a result of a bet in the 1930s.

How strange, usually in life people get high off certain flowers. But in this case the flower looks stoned, lol.

I'm always curious about the bio-compatibility of these things. It has all these neat new properties.....but is it the next asbestos?

what is the tinsel strength ? Could this not be used to create lighter than air vehicles ?

It probably has a tinsel strength - slightly stronger than shaving foam.

Made of carbon, hmmm, I have a sneaky suspicion this will burn POOF really fast, considering its low density!

The material shown perched on a flower is just like any other substance - its inertia will keep it in place until sufficient energy is applied to overcome at inertia.
The word y'all are looking for is 'tensile' strength. Given that this material s essentially a wadded up sheet of one atom thick carbon paper. Given that this is essentially a wadded up sheet of paper made from one atom thick carbon that can absorb 600 times its own weight of oil, the real question is whether it can be moved without losing any of its 'load'.

Tinsel strength? Oh, I see, you're from Tinseltown.

Its called aerographite

If it's bio compatible....it could be the next "sliced bread" of TP. Just imagine all that hanging from the trees in your yard. :/

Ha ha - "tinsel strength." I'm sure you folks meant "tensile strength." But the aluminum tinsel we had when I was a kid had really low "tinsel strength!"

Isn't it strange that we are hell bent for leather on a relatively small scale random incident like an oil spill, but not about the nitrates actually causing dead zones? If ALL of the oil that ever was under the Gulf of Mexico were put in the Gulf today, the world would absorb the damage and life would go on in it's way. But it's the oil trade being made all nice and cozy while our entire coastline dies, from nitrates, cyanoacids, steroids, and the rest. Good to know Exxon will be the last ones able to afford to eat.

@jakanemanic - in principle yes, but in reality a one-atom thick layer of carbon would not be able to withstand the external atmospheric pressure and would rupture, allowing air into the vacuum.

Also, the density of this material when filled with air will be less than 1 and 1/6 that of air. We don't know how much less because we don't know what percent of the overall volume is occupied by carbon versus spaces. The picture shows that when filled with air it is more dense than air, which means the volume occupied by carbon must be less than 1/6 the total volume.