Transparent aluminum

[bcp]

is real.

Transparent Aluminum - Star Trek Technology is now Real - YouTube

Bruce

 

[oosik]

High performance applications in the military field - - hmmm.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

is real.

Transparent Aluminum - Star Trek Technology is now Real - YouTube

Bruce

Pretty remarkable, but the lead in is very misleading. I'm not surprised that you could take an oxide of Aluminum and mix it with other chemicals and make a transparent compound; "Aluminum metal" and this compound are two entirely different things. It's like saying that a diamond is transparent Carbon.

 

[GLyford]

FWIW, the molecule in the movie was pretty complex too, not a single element metallic crystal.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Pretty remarkable, but the lead in is very misleading. I'm not surprised that you could take an oxide of Aluminum and mix it with other chemicals and make a transparent compound; "Aluminum metal" and this compound are two entirely different things. It's like saying that a diamond is transparent Carbon.

Actually, that was a mistake on my part. I believe that diamond (albeit with impurities) is "pure" Carbon, but just a different crystalline form than the black forms of Carbon. Metallic Aluminum is different from Aluminum in combination with Oxygen.

 

[CalG]

Al2O3 has always been transparent.
It's the stuff that keeps pure aluminum from corroding. It's on all aluminum. You just don't see it ;-)

 

[kf4uda]

 

[Industrial Toys]

Sounds kind of like the stuff they found at Roswell.

 

[GLyford]

Do you want that in red or blue?

 

[CalG]

Do you want that in red or blue?
View attachment 571876

Those are SOOOO impure! ;-)