OT: Enterprise New thread....

[Atrocities]

I for one like this new series, and it's appeal.

[tesco samoa]

then you will like tonights show

[tesco samoa]

For fans of Scotty.

Look what was invented...

http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/0...183008,00.html

Panzerkachel schützt vor Geschossen

Dresdner Forscher haben durchsichtige und extrem harte Kacheln entwickelt. Von dem Material, aus dem sich etwa schussfeste Visiere fertigen lassen, ist auch das Pentagon fasziniert.


DPA

Durchsichtige Alu-Fliese


Amerikas Waffentechniker zeigen Interesse an einer Panzerkachel aus Dresden. Im dortigen Fraunhofer-Institut für Keramische Technologien ist es gelungen, feinkörniges Aluminiumoxid bei 1200 Grad Celsius so im Ofen zu verbacken, dass ein extrem hartes, durchsichtiges Material entsteht.
Eine 10 mal 10 Zentimeter große Platte (Stärke: 1,0 cm) wiegt nur etwa 400 Gramm, ist aber dreimal härter als gehärteter Stahl. Bei Schusstests im Auftrag des Bundeswehrbeschaffungsamtes in Koblenz seien "hervorragende Ergebnisse" erzielt worden, berichtet der Forscher Andreas Krell.

Auch im US-Staat Idaho wurden die Fliesen untersucht: Das Pentagon ist von der Transparenz des Werkstoffs fasziniert, mit dem sich schussfeste Visiere oder große Fenster von Panzerspähwagen bauen lassen.


For our english friends use http://babelfish.altavista.com/

and get
Tank page frame protects against projectiles Dresdner researchers developed transparent and extremely hard page frames. By the material, from which visors can firingfixed be manufactured, also the pentagon is fascinated. DPA Transparent aluminum tile Of America weapon technician show interest in a tank page frame from Dresden. In the there institute for Fraunhofer for ceramic technologies succeeded in baking fine-grained alumina in such a way with 1200 degrees Celsius in the furnace that an extremely hard, transparent material develops. A 10 times 10 centimeters large disk (strength: only about 400 gram weigh, are however three times harder 1.0 cm as hardened steel. With firing tests under contract of the German Federal Armed Forces from the Bundeswehr in Koblenz " outstanding results " were obtained, report the researcher Andreas Krell. Also in the US state Idaho were examined the tiles: The pentagon is fascinated of the transparency of the material, with which firingfixed of visors or large windows of armored reconnaissance vehicles can be built.

And for our Candian friends use this to view it. I link it back to this thread so you can get the real feel of it

http://buzz.ca/fun/chretien.html

[Growltigga]

sheesh, and you call my postings irrelevant

[Suicide Junkie]

quote:

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(from slashdot)This isn't transparent aluminum; this is a transparent aluminum oxide. That is just not the same thing as aluminum anymore then water is Hydrogen gas, or table salt is the same thing as Sodium metal or Chlorine gas (both very harmful chemicals, sodium can explode when it comes in contact with water, and Chlorine can kill you in a few breaths, yet we eat salt all the time)

And secondly we have known about aluminum based compounds for a long time, in fact, longer then we have known about Aluminum or even about elements in general. Alum, the compound from which aluminum gets it's name (and which we extract aluminum from) has been known to man for ages and is, in fact, transparent.

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quote:

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Bottom line is that alumina (Al2O3) and aluminum (Al) are totally different materials, so naturally they have different properties such as hardness, stiffness, transparency, etc. Alumina is what sapphires and rubies are made of. Pure alumina is clear, but the addition of color centers like chromium ions results in the color of gemstone rubies and sapphires. A search for sapphire conformal optics [google.com] will show you that making windows out of sapphire for military applications is nothing new. Just about the only thing that might be new is how they make the sapphire, but the article does not provide any details about that. Yes, sapphire is cool stuff, but it's not some magical new material.

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[dmm]

How dare you imply that Scotty would make a whale tank out of transparent alumina! Alumina (a glass or crystal) is brittle compared to aluminum (a metal), and might shatter when subjected to the stresses of time traveling in a cranky Klingon warbird. Then what would happen to humanity when the whale blubbers to the mysterious probe "Help, I feel like I've been shot with a shard cannon"?

[tesco samoa]

Star Trek Bridge Command From Activison.

The game is great.

For those who are trek fans.

Also the interface is perfect.