OT: If anybody sees a klingon warbird...

[Kamog]

This is really good. I wonder if the cost will ever come down enough to make things like eyeglasses, car windshields, windows, camera lenses etc? And aquarium walls for whales, of course.

Did these scientists really invent this stuff, or did Scotty come by and teach them??

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Baron Munchausen said:
Actually, this is not 'transparent aluminum'. It's aluminum oxide, i.e. corundum (called 'sapphire' when it's tinted blue and 'ruby' when it's tinted red), a crystal like quartz. No suprise that it's transparent. This is just a breakthrough in bulk manufacturing so it can be used for large scale applications other than tiny peep holes on pressure chambers & such.

It's major component is aluminum, right? It's transparent, right? Therefore, it's transparent aluminum.

[Baron Munchausen]

Um, no. Corundum is AL(2)O(3) -- it's 'major' component is oxygen.

[Kamog]

Well, it depends how you define 'major' component. The aluminum would still make up a greater percentage of the mass, since aluminum atoms weigh more than oxygen atoms.