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Author | Topic: transparent aluminum!!! :o |
tafkact Highlie Posts: 614 |
posted February 24, 2002 10:01
whoa. Star Trek is HERE! http://www.sci-fighter.com/news/newsfeb02/feb21aluminium.php3
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joliet_jane Super Geek Posts: 140 |
posted February 24, 2002 11:23
Whoa! Maybe I'll one day see inside my can of Diet Mountain Dew! IP: Logged |
Snaggy Moderator Posts: 1399 |
posted February 24, 2002 11:57
WOOHOO!!!! Roddenberry Rocks! IP: Logged |
BlueAntoid Geek Posts: 63 |
posted February 24, 2002 13:06
HOLY MONKEY SALSA! \^o^/ IP: Logged |
Baka Maximum Newbie Posts: 15 |
posted February 24, 2002 13:24
Unfortunately I'm sure the military will snatch it up for possible military usage. Which might mean we have a long wait for commercial implications ------------------ Baka IP: Logged |
Janeway Super Geek Posts: 234 |
posted February 24, 2002 18:03
Didn't you know transparent aluminum was invented back in the late 80's when Kirk needed a whale tank? IP: Logged |
macadddikt18 SuperBlabberMouth! Posts: 1126 |
posted February 24, 2002 19:17
yippy. but it took all that time for that guy to make it. I mean scotty gave him the design for it. But i am still happy. Nayt ------------------ IP: Logged |
ZorroTheFox SuperBlabberMouth! Posts: 1117 |
posted February 24, 2002 20:17
quote: I have seen the contents of Diet Mt. Dew, it ain't pretty. Now regular Mt. Dew I could live with ...........Z IP: Logged |
Iain-F Newbie Larva Posts: 4 |
posted February 24, 2002 22:16
Gaaaakkk! This isn't transparent "Aloomi-num" (sorry Mr Doohan, you had a total failure of Scottish accent there). This is transparent (or perhaps more accurately translucent) Alumina. In terms of the words and letters it's not much different. In terms of gross bulk chemical analysis it's not much different, just a couple of Oxygen atoms added... But trust me, as a materials scientist I can assure you that Alumina is very, very different from Aluminium. Alumina is Aluminium Oxide, Al2O3. This is a ceramic with all the brittleness that being a ceramic implies. Aluminium is a metal, it is quite tough and ductile. Ceramics are covalently bonded substances, relatively simple molecules in which outer shell electrons are shared equitably between a small and definitely finite number of atoms (atoms of two or more elements). Metals have their outer electrons shared between a great many identical atoms. It's one of the things that defines a material's metallicness (or non-metallicness). This "electron sea" intereferes with the passage of light, such that a transparent metal is about as likely as a pregnant male. The electrons in a ceramic don't neccessarily interfere with the passage of light (compare Silica, AKA glass, and other ceramics), but transparency is fundamentally incompatible with one of the defining characteristics of a metal. A transparent Alumina is quite an achievement, and undoubtedly useful, but it is most definitely not the transparent metal predicted by Star Trek. My guess is that such a thing will not be seen in my lifetime, if ever. My guess is that this transparent Alumina has been achieved by an exceptionally fine grain size in the starting powder, like grains of a size similar to the wavelength of light. Such a capability would open up the fascinating possibility of making other ceramics transparent. However these would all be ceramics. They would not be metals and would not behave like metals. Iain ------------------ IP: Logged |
Snaggy Moderator Posts: 1399 |
posted February 24, 2002 22:22
wow, neat, thanks for that Iain! IP: Logged |
Hikaru Geek Posts: 63 |
posted February 25, 2002 04:37
who cares its transparent(ish) its got aluminum in it its Star Trekky goodness Vootie! now it better have been designed on a Mac + ------------------ IP: Logged |
macadddikt18 SuperBlabberMouth! Posts: 1126 |
posted February 25, 2002 05:30
I can see Steve putting this to use in a mac in the future. Nayt ------------------ IP: Logged |
joliet_jane Super Geek Posts: 140 |
posted February 25, 2002 11:33
quote: Totally! He's probably locked Ive in a shed with a sheet of it already! IP: Logged |
Tau Zero BlabberMouth, the Next Generation. Posts: 1685 |
posted February 25, 2002 11:37
It sure would make a neat material for a case. If it's tough enough to be used for bullet-proof windows, it might even make a laptop case (ceramic can be molded to any shape and then fired, instead of machined). IP: Logged |
macadddikt18 SuperBlabberMouth! Posts: 1126 |
posted February 25, 2002 11:42
how cool would that be, a bullet proof mac. I can see it now. Nayt ------------------ IP: Logged |
LifetimeTrekker Alpha Geek Posts: 326 |
posted February 25, 2002 13:31
Try really tough video screens. tough to scratch, puncture or burn (I hope it's heat-resistant to a high degree.) I wonder if Paramount is going to sue for trademark infringement? IP: Logged |
ZorroTheFox SuperBlabberMouth! Posts: 1117 |
posted February 25, 2002 18:18
hopefully the new screen would be kitty friendly......Z IP: Logged |
macadddikt18 SuperBlabberMouth! Posts: 1126 |
posted February 25, 2002 19:45
Hey, anyone seen the movie Sabrina with Harrison Ford. Yes it is a chick flick. and it was still a great movie. Well in the movie Harrison ford has this video screen that he liked to shoot, and it does not even scratch. Nayt ------------------ IP: Logged |
Sir Aureus Geek-in-Training Posts: 36 |
posted February 25, 2002 22:01
quote: the original (clam-shaped) iBook was bulletproof. ... well the case could stop a bullet, anyway; I'm sure a lot of the circuitry would be broken ------------------ IP: Logged |
macadddikt18 SuperBlabberMouth! Posts: 1126 |
posted February 26, 2002 05:57
so are the new Ti books bullet proof. Or does the Ti need to be thicker. Nayt ------------------ IP: Logged |
MrMachineCode Super Geek Posts: 207 |
posted February 26, 2002 07:26
Okay, so if I understand this correctly, the reason you can't have a transparent metal is that the properties of the electron cloud in a metal make it so that the metal can't conduct light, and any changes to it's chemical composition that would allow it to conduct light would cause it to cease to be a true metal. Okay. But does the change have to only be in the chemical composition--can you change something else, instead? What if you cause the metal's electrons to be in some peculiar electrical or quantum state, similar but not necessarily the same as causing the material to lase? I know there's been a lot of speculation on free electron lasers; is some of that research applicable to the electrons in a metal? IP: Logged |
Iain-F Newbie Larva Posts: 4 |
posted February 26, 2002 15:12
quote: Correct
quote: That is the kind of thing that would be required, and getting a bunch of electrons to co-operate is pretty tough, seeing as how the uncertainty principle says you can only know either where the electron is OR how fast it is going, not both. Destined to remain science fiction for some time... IP: Logged |
BlueAntoid Geek Posts: 63 |
posted February 28, 2002 21:34
Hmm... that's what we get for translating the original site with Babelfish, I guess... IP: Logged |
macadddikt18 SuperBlabberMouth! Posts: 1126 |
posted March 01, 2002 10:26
babblefish? besides something from a Hitch Hikers guide to the galaxy what it is? Nayt ------------------ IP: Logged |
quantumfluff Highlie Posts: 672 |
posted March 01, 2002 14:16
Iain-F: First of all, a big thumbs up for Sheffield, locale of "The Full Monty", one of my all-time favorite movies. Second, I'm curious. How is it that you pop into the forums at the exact time there is a subject you're an expert on? Is this just coincidence, or had you been a lurker for a while? Actually, what I'm really interested in is how long people lurk before starting to post. Do they just find the place and start posting, or do we have a large contingent of lurkers who don't have anything to say (or just don't want to say it)? But let's take answers in a new thread on lurking. IP: Logged |
ZorroTheFox SuperBlabberMouth! Posts: 1117 |
posted March 02, 2002 08:18
some people just need to find the right place to start posting. First impressions are important and you wouldn't want to start off on a subject that you didn't really care for.........Z IP: Logged |
greycat Super Geek Posts: 182 |
posted March 02, 2002 13:49
quote: http://babelfish.altavista.com/ IP: Logged |
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