Transparent aluminum
From Free net encyclopedia
Transparent aluminum is a material described in the Star Trek universe which was introduced in the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). This material was long considered just a work of science fiction; however, there are similar real substances.
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Transparent aluminum
These are presently produced through the chemical bonding aluminium with appropriate elements in transparent alumina and in ruby, corundum, sapphire, and related aluminium compounds. Traditional photonic bandgaps, based on introducing spatial holes in aluminium, are likewise possible, but these would require the introduction of numerous physical holes with roughly the diameter of the wavelengths of light for which transparence were desired; but such would presumably weaken aluminium structures.
Transparent alumina
- Main article: transparent alumina
Transparent aluminum is sometimes confused with transparent alumina - Al2O3 - a transparent ceramic composed of alumina (aluminum oxide). A ceramic research lab in Dresden, Germany, has developed transparent Alumina in 2002 by subjecting fine-grained aluminum to a 1200 degrees Celsius, the result of which is a see-through material amazingly light but three times tougher than hardened steel of the same thickness.
Nanophase aluminium
Real transparent aluminium can and has be made by using nanophase aluminium. This is aluminium composed of nanometre scale particles as a solid transparent material, whose colour can be varied by sizing the particles differently. The particles themselves are smaller than the wavelengths of visible light. Nanophase materials are usually transparent and very hard, with colour depending on the size of the particles.
Aluminum oxynitride (ALON)
- Main article: aluminum oxynitride
ALON ™ ® is the trade name for aluminum oxynitride, a hard transparent aluminum compound, that can be used in place of armoured glass. It costs 3x to 5x as much as armoured glass, but is much more effective in stopping armour piercing rounds.[1]
Star Trek appearance
The chemical formula for transparent aluminum plays a key role in the plot of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. In the movie, the formula is traded for Plexiglas sheets thick enough to create water tanks suitable for transporting two humpback whales through time, from the 20th century to the 23rd century, inside a Klingon Bird of Prey. Since the crew was temporarily stranded in the past without money appropriate to the period, they had to barter with the owner of the Plexicorp company (a fictional manufacturer of Plexiglas). Scotty trades the chemical formula for transparent aluminum for enough of the material to build the tanks.
This results in the predestination paradox where transparent aluminum is never actually invented by anyone. It was introduced by the owner of Plexicorp, Dr. Nichols, in the 20th century after he got the formula from Scotty; Scotty then learned the formula from his knowledge of 23rd century engineering that built on Dr. Nichols's 20th century "invention". No one ever actually invented transparent aluminum from scratch.
Star Trek technical manuals allege transparent aluminum to be used in various internal fittings in starships, where the sets include what appears to be glass. However, such fittings have been observed to shatter in the manner of toughened glass.