In many science videos, it is shown that aerogel can insulate an extremely high temperature even though it is very fragile, what properties of aerogel made it so capable of insulating heat?
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Basically, nearly all of the volume of aerogels, that is, $99.8\%$, is actually air which is contained in tiny air pockets which are called nanopores.
Since the motion of the air molecules in these nanopores is very restricted (the air has very little room to move), and the fact that the microstructure of these aerogels prevents net gas motion, this will severely inhibit both conduction and convection, therefore making aerogels highly effective thermal insulators.
The concept behind such a substance is similar to how an igloo maintains a relatively warm interior, although counterintuitively, an igloo is made of snow. This is similar to how aerogels work, insomuch as snow is composed of air pockets, as per aerogels. In both cases, these air pockets behave as fairly effective insulators.
joseph h
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