MrDad Posted October 18, 2005 Share Posted October 18, 2005 http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123012131 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TetsuoShima Posted October 18, 2005 Share Posted October 18, 2005 Interesting article... The beginning of the Trek age... :) Maybe StarTrek IV wasn't that far from the truth after all... LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beawulf Posted October 19, 2005 Share Posted October 19, 2005 That sounds really good. I wonder what sort of heat resistant properties it has. Sounds like it should fare quite well against micro meteor strikes, might be seeing it used in spaceships of the future. Another material that I think is going to be very promising is carbon nanotubes. They have a similar structure to graphite which has very strong bonds in 2 dimensions, but very weak bonds in the 3rd dimension (which is why it makes a good lubricant). In the form of a tube the bonds are actually stronger than diamonds. NASA is looking at using it in their space elevator design. And a group in Japan is wanting to use it to create a massive pyramid city (cant find the link unfortunately :( ). It also has conductive properties so has applications in electronics and also nanotechnology of course hehe :) Carbon Nanotubes ala wikipedia ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psheldrake1 Posted October 29, 2005 Share Posted October 29, 2005 Scotty, You got that whale tank finished yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyran Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 so scotty was right :) wonder if the writer is gonna ask for an inventors fee lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnifex Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 This ability to add the needed protection with only a small amount of material is very advantageous, said Ron Hoffman, an investigator at University of Dayton Research Institute. Jeez... I thought this said 'Daystrom'. Lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbbb Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 How can aluminum be transparent? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HEAT84 Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 How can aluminum be transparent? Yeah, I though the transparent Steel in Star Trek (it was steel wasn't it? Not aluminum) was actually steel that was molecularly altered to be clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queenhank Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 No, it's aluminum. They might have transparent steel, but I think you are thinking of Star Wars, which does have transparisteel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebrae Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Yup, transparisteel - along with plasticrete, durasteel and other... imaginatively titled creation - are Star Wars Expanded Universe, whereas transparent aluminium was made in Star Trek IV. As to how aluminium can be transparent... well, why is glass? Basically, it's down to modifying the structure so that various wavelengths of light can pass through it. I think it's basically done by "doping" aluminium with various compounds... The wikipedia entry hasn't got much info but that's about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NumbahWon Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 it's definitely transparent aluminum in trek, scotty trades the formula for transparent aluminum, for the resources to create the big whale tank in ST IV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkR0 Posted February 4, 2006 Share Posted February 4, 2006 > Basically, it's down to modifying the structure so that various wavelengths of light can pass through it. I think > it's basically done by "doping" aluminium with various compounds... The wikipedia entry hasn't got much info > but that's about it. that's what happens ...basically, as i understand it and im no QM-pro, the oxynitride-group 'broadens the bandgap' between valence and conductive band of the aluminium, so it probably wont be conductive anymore because light would interact with the conduction band electrons of a metal thus making it impenatrable for varius wavelenght of light... this is quite nice..i've just some days ago read in de.wikipedia.org ( http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandl%C3%BCcke ) that metal cant be transparent, and well i nearly took it for granted....but you just cant beat clever engineering! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steveo Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Add sugar and bake at 220 degrees for 40 minutes, or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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