this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2024

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Scientists develop game-changing 'glass brick' that could revolutionize construction: 'The highest insulating performance' (www.thecooldown.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Scientists develop game-changing 'glass brick' that could revolutionize construction: 'The highest insulating performance'::The team of scientists developed an aerogel glass brick, which is a translucent and thermally insulating material.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Melt glass, inject air bubble, insert mixer and spin thousands of times. Pour into mold.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

So if you could theoretically let out a big enough fart, it would be visible on Google Maps.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Wrong post my friend

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

Wait, I want to hear what he was to say.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 8 months ago (1 children)

And yet Lemmy is so small I immediately knew which post they were referring to.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Wow wtf my comment didn't go to the post I intended. Huh.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I'm still thoroughly intrigued.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yea I need to see this fart post

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago

Pretty sure it's this one: https://lemmy.world/post/11988042

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Must've been related to pyrocynical

[–] [email protected] 46 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yeah but then I'd have to stop throwing stones, and that's one of my favorite pastimes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You just have to go touch grass first.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

Touch grass, break glass, crush ass

[+] [email protected] -11 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Yes in a time where all insulated homes are desperate to keep the cool in during summer, adding more light through will really help us.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's more for public buildings with glass fronts. "Revolutionize construction" is a questionable headline. Aerogels have use for replacing insulation in other ways, though.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

"Revolutionize construction" is a questionable headline.

How about: revolutionize one very specific part construction under certain niche circumstances? Rolls off the tongue!

[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Is this a joke or do you just not understand what "insulation" means?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Do you?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I do. Thanks for asking.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Ok, can you help me understand what you don’t understand in the sentence I wrote then?

Insulation helps maintain a difference in temperature between outside and inside. Right?

It doesn’t matter whether than temperature differential is “warmer inside” or “colder inside”. Right?

If you let infrared light into a house it will heat up. Right?

If you aim to keep the inside cool, letting light into the house works against you. Right?

Given that the planet is warming up, many well-insulated houses get too hot in the summer. Right?

I don’t understand how we can both understand how insulation works, yet you can’t understand the sentence I wrote. Maybe you missed my sarcasm, that’s the only thing I can imagine could have gone wrong.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Infrared light is not the same as visible light. Why would you assume that letting visible light in would also imply letting infrared in?

I think the idea here is that controlling the temperature of your house with a heating/cooling system would be much more efficient if your house is better insulated. The fact that this also lets in natural light, makes it better for a living space since you wouldn't need artificial light. I really don't think it's that hard to understand.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Houses can have a "greenhouse" effect. Light passes through, and strikes something. It is absorbed and turned to heat. The object then radiates that as infrared. Thermally shielded windows then trap this in the room. With enough insulation, and enough light, this can become a significant issue.

This is assuming, however, that these bricks are transparent to visible light, but opaque to IR.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

That, and I don't know how much visible light contributes to heat inside a home. Even so, you could just coat the bricks in something to absorb the visible light.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I can't imagine there's any reason they couldn't make an opaque version of the same. Would probably look pretty cool in black. Or better yet, make them electrochromic so you can have more light in the winter and less in the summer.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I mean, I’m all for better insulated homes. I will say it’ll be hard to convince people to go for this aesthetic, though. It’s very 80s.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Right now I feel like MCM is having a moment sooooo maybe in twenty years the prices on this will go down and 80s style will be back in fashion?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

If only we had 20 years. In 20 years this shit won’t matter because we’ll be on the other side of that precipice, barreling toward oblivion.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

I don't think the photo at the start of the article has anything to do with it, it's credited as a stock image. Was there another picture?

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