Next stop - vacuum balloons

[ai_vin]

http://inhabitat.com/newly-developed-gra...-material/

[stevebowers.]

A bit too porous to retain a vacuum, I think, but this sort of material should have a very large number of applications; we just haven't thought of them yet.

[ai_vin]

A bit too porous to retain a vacuum, I think, but this sort of material should have a very large number of applications; we just haven't thought of them yet.

I wasn't going to suggest it "retain a vacuum" by itself but maybe it could hold open an envelope?

[Drashner1]

http://inhabitat.com/newly-developed-gra...-material/

Hmm. I wonder what would happen if you created a sponge of this stuff and then heated up the air inside the interior pores? As light as it is, could the addition of hot air make it start to float?

Note quite a vacuum balloon, but maybe the next best thing and rather more robust than a 'conventional' hot air balloon?

Just a thought,

Todd

[stevebowers.]

You only have to seal the outside surface. if that could be made air-tight, the interior would remain at the same density, even after the air inside had cooled.

A cold hot air balloon, or a partial vacuum balloon, would be the result, assuming the foam could resist compression.