02-13-2018, 12:38 PM | #31 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: Making metal transparent
Calling Aluminum Oxynitrite "transparent aluminum" was a marketing stunt. It isn't transparent elemental metallic aluminum anymore than gorilla glass is "transparent potassium". It's a compound of aluminum and two non-metals.
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02-13-2018, 12:40 PM | #32 | |
Join Date: Dec 2006
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Re: Making metal transparent
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Aluminum based ceramics can be transparent, but they are notably radically different from aluminum; Super high melting point Fragile Can't be reshaped or reformed Control (ceramic) would be required to work with it, not control metal. Further even IF aluminum can be transparent does not mean all metal can. That would be like arguing that because cesium reacts violently with water that control metal let's you turn lead into a bomb. |
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02-13-2018, 12:42 PM | #33 |
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Behind You
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Re: Making metal transparent
Well, if it's a super science TL then does that change if metal can be transparent?
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02-13-2018, 01:02 PM | #34 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Making metal transparent
If it's transparent, it's not metal. Superscience might come up with a material with many of the properties of metal that was also transparent, but it will be a ceramic or a plastic, not a metal.
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02-13-2018, 01:10 PM | #35 |
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Behind You
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Re: Making metal transparent
So is an oxide metal no longer a metal by the standards?
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02-13-2018, 01:11 PM | #36 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Making metal transparent
Is it a literal defining characteristic of metal to be opaque? Basic definitions I can find just say they're usually shiny.
Superscience can of course alter all sorts of things but making a triangle with four sides, for example, can't be one and have human players not go cross-eyed in confusion.
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02-13-2018, 01:36 PM | #37 | |
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Behind You
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Re: Making metal transparent
Quote:
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02-13-2018, 01:57 PM | #38 | |
Join Date: Dec 2006
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Re: Making metal transparent
Quote:
Metals generally meet the following requirements: Lustrous (shiny) Hard High density (are heavy for their size) High tensile strength (resist being stretched) High melting and boiling points Good conductors of heat and electricity High tolerance for deformation and the ability to be reformed when broken (ductility) I think it would ultimately come down to a GM call if some sort of super-science meta-material that meets those properties and is also transparent is actually a metal. It will almost certainly NOT be a metal as per metaloids on the periodic table- but we consider steel a metal and it contains a lot of carbon. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebit...talsrev1.shtml |
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02-13-2018, 02:21 PM | #39 | |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Making metal transparent
Quote:
Al2O3 is transparent in crystalline form (corundum; with dopants, forms ruby or sapphire), though in powder form it's white. Same for cubic zirconia. Last edited by Anthony; 02-13-2018 at 02:26 PM. |
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02-13-2018, 03:14 PM | #40 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Making metal transparent
Quote:
But interesting to learn anyway. Thanks.
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