OT: If anybody sees a klingon warbird...

[Aiken]

Nope

But they might be cloaked.

[Roanon]

Probably already landed

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Roanon said:
Probably already landed

Yeah, I realised that after I posted, but it's a cool title so I kept it.

[Baron Munchausen]

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.

[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.