Well, That communicator could talk to starships in orbit! Ill take the communicator over the cell phone anyday!
Posted on 08/23/2004 7:16:42 AM PDT by sionnsar
from the like-blue-LEDs dept. Alien54 writes "Scientists in the US have developed a novel technique to make bulk quantities of glass from alumina for the first time. (link includes a picture of samples)
Anatoly Rosenflanz and colleagues at 3M in Minnesota used a "flame-spray" technique to alloy alumina (aluminium oxide) with rare-earth metal oxides to produce strong glass with good optical properties. The method avoids many of the problems encountered in conventional glass forming and could, say the team, be extended to other oxides (see also: A Rosenflanz et al. 2004 Nature 430 761).
Scotty would be pleased."
Well, That communicator could talk to starships in orbit! Ill take the communicator over the cell phone anyday!
"Nature" link (the last) seems to be down, but the other two just worked...
They did. They traded the knowledge of transparent aluminum for the plexiglass for the whale tank. This is evidenced by the owner/manager/foreman of the plant saying "It would take years to work out this matrix".
BTTT
And here it is:
Nice, isn't it?
The year 1902 saw the first production of synthetic ruby using the Verneuil flame-fusion process. Later, sapphire, spinel, rutile, and strontium titanate were grown with this technique. In this process, a single crystal, called a boule, forms in the flame of a simple, downward-impinging oxygen-hydrogen blowtorch. Pure oxides of aluminum (in the cases of ruby, sapphire, and spinel) or titanium (rutile and strontium titanate) are poured into the top of a small furnace and melted. Other oxides are added as needed for process control and to obtain the specific color desired. The melted material solidifies as a boule on a rotating fire-clay peg as the peg is slowly withdrawn. A boule has a very characteristic shape, with a rounded end, a long cylindrical body, and a tapering end. It is usually about 13 to 25 millimeters in diameter, 50 to 100 millimeters long, and weighs 75 to 250 carats.
Another melt technique is the Bridgman-Stockbarge solidification method, named for an American, P.W. Bridgman, and a German, D.C. Stockbarge, who, aided by three Russians, J. Obreimov, G. Tammann, and L. Shubnikov, discovered and perfected the process between 1924 and 1936. Currently, the method is used primarily for growing nongem halide, sulfide, and various metallic oxide crystals, one of the metallic oxides being aluminum oxide or sapphire
lots of stuff on this one
http://optics.org/articles/news/10/3/10/1
how about transparent concrete?
http://www.litracon.com/
Lead glass was the rage until about 1902when it was removed from the formula for meaking glass. Today some older pieces of collectible glass are tinted the lightest blue or pink due to exposure to the sun. This so called "sun colored glass" is one way to guess the age of a particular glass. I was at a farm auction in North Dakota and there was a wreck of a vehicle that appeared to be an early Ford. Its headlights were pink and I tried to buy them but the whole auto carcass was bought by an auto fixer upper!
Haven't you heard? The UN / World Court has already ruled that any attempt by Israel and the Jews to leave planet earth and settle on an isolated planet would be zionist, rascist, unpardonable aggression, a crime against humanity, and a war crime against the [arabs currently living in the Gaza strip and the West Bank].
This new process produces a 'glass' (not the same as silica glass) through a different procedure. The word "glass" is a generic term used to describe any substance, natural or man made, that exhibits certain properties. Melted borax produces a "glass" but it's not the same material as window or pop bottle glass.
There be whales Admiral!
Plexiglass is hard to beat for holding whales.
On a good day when the atmosphere didn't interfere. It seems StarFleet communication gear wasn't much more reliable than a Dish Network antenna.
Shalom.
Lord willing....New Jerusalem anyway...
It was too bad that the Enterprise crew...when in S.F. looking for the appropriate Cetaceans
didnt stumble into a 'StarTrek' convention...
On what assumption do you base that statement?
If it's the fact that you never saw them being recharged, remember that we never saw the crew use the loo either.
And if they manage to get rid of that need I wouldn't like it. When would I read?
Shalom.
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