"Christopher M. Jones" wrote:

"Henry Spencer" wrote:
In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
I'm still a bit confused what the properties of cork are that make it the
ideal substance for this job?

It's light, it's a good insulator, it chars gradually and predictably, it
takes adhesives well, and not least, it's cheap. You could undoubtedly
make a synthetic substitute, but why bother?

Cheap by aerospace spending standards. I note that there
is an artificial cork replacement as a bottle stopper and
it is gaining in use because of the difficulties of
obtaining sufficient amounts of the natural stuff at
reasonable prices.

Actually, the main reason for the use of artificial corks, at least in
the wine business, is that the traditional real cork can more easily
contaminate the wine. (Hence the term "corked wine", which has a
distinct cardboard-like taste.) It is estimated that between 3% and 10%
of all wine bottles have some level of "corkedness". (Some people are
very good at noticing if a wine is corked, others notice it
subconsciously and think that the bottle just isn't that good.)

Unfortunately, there hasn't been a long enough period to determine
whether the artificial cork replacements have a long-term (10+ years of
bottle age) effect on the wine. Oddly enough, the best cork alternatives
are probably either the screw top or the crown cap (like on beer and
soda bottles.) Unfortunately, neither is likely to catch on for fine, or
even table, wine, since they have connotations with wine so bad it can
only aspire to being plonk. Oddly enough, the Australians have no
problem with bottling fine wine using crown corks (for domestic use),
and have found that it doesn't interfere with aging of up to at least 25
years.

Sci.space.history content: Bully Hill Winery (upstate New York) has a
wine called Space Shuttle Red. http://www.bullyhill.com/descred.asp?id=6