Talk:Transparent aluminum
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[edit] VfD August 2004
For an August 2004 deletion debate over this page see Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Transparent aluminum
[edit] ST-IV
Previous ST-IV plot segment was slightly incorrect:
In the plot of the Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, water tanks made with transparent aluminum were used to transport 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, they had to obtain the material for their tank from a local manufacturer. In a notable scene, Scotty convinces the owner of the Plexicorp company (a fictional manufacturer of Plexiglass) to manufacture the necessary tank by providing them with the chemical formula for transparent aluminum.
In fact, they used the formula as payment for plexiglass of a sufficient thickness to create the tanks they needed, since there was no transparent aluminum (supposedly a common materal in the 23rd century) to be had in 1986 San Francisco.
First, in the time-frame they had to build the tanks ( less than 24hrs or so?), the plexi manufacturer could not have possibily tooled up and created trans. aluminum (it's a plastics factory, not a AL refinery/metalshop). Second there is the exchange where Scotty asks how thick would the plexi would need to be to support (the weight of the water and whales) and the owner says "Oh that's easy, x inches; I keep that in stock." Scotty: 'Ah yes, so I noticed.' and they begin the formula barter ending with Scotty saying "Now would that be worth something to ya'?". Later we see Sulu piloting a helicopter lowering the several-inch thick walls of plexi into the Bird of Prey. Theoretical trans aluminum would only be a few centimeters thick, no? Autiger 14:18, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC)
According to Scotty, transparent aluminum would do the same job the plexiglass did, but would be only one inch thick.
[edit] Transparent metals
Couldn't elemental aluminum be made transparent, and of any color, by making nanophase materials with varying bead sizes? It wouldn't be totally fictional then.
IIRC, differently colored transparent copper is made that way.
- Where'd you get that? lysdexia 04:42, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
"It may not be possible to accomplish this reliably until the 23rd century."
- I think fiction is being passed off as fact here.--203.23.17.160 12:06, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Link to aluminum
An article about aluminum needs a link to Aluminum... --Maian 09:19, 18 October 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Perhaps this new research should update this article?
I've never tried updating or suggesting updates on Wikipedia before, but there's always a time to start. I am simply curious if the Air Force research found following the link below could provide information which would change the contents of this wiki article.
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123012131
[edit] Brand name?
Has anyone considered the possibility that the term "transparent aluminum" may actually have been a brand name, and not actually aluminum that's transparent? CFLeon 02:57, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Spelling
So this article has been moved to "Transparent aluminium". I understand the reasoning, but it unfortunately completely contradicts the way it was pronounced in Star Trek, which was clearly the American pronounciation. I started to fix it, but realized that would have left us with two spellings in the same article, which is clearly not acceptable. Any thoughts? Powers T 02:38, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
It is clearly ridiculous to have an article about a fictional substance under a different name modified due to wiki politics. Transparent aluminum is the name of the fictional substance and should be the name of this article, regardless of the spelling of the main "Alumin[i]um" article, or even the spelling of the real-life element alumin[i]um in this article itself. There is no problem with using both spellings, to be both consistent with the fiction and acceptable to the promoters of the aluminium spelling, as long as a link explaining the issue is provided. -- anonymous coward —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.214.216.208 (talk • contribs) .
- Actually two spellings is okay IMO, as we're talking about two different things. I went ahead and moved the article back to aluminum, as the previous move was done based on MoS concerns without a formally Requested Move and not individual ideosyncracies of this article, and has now been contested multiple times. I also moved the ST stuff above the RL entries, but I am not adverse to switching that back around. I just think the St references are still more popular, and the TOC allows people to jump past them if they wish. Thoughts? -- nae'blis 20:09, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Scientific American article about this subject
Just FYI: in the March 2006 issue of SA you'll find an article about transparent aluminum. It's in that first section with the short articles. No mention of Star Trek, alas. Let's hear it for the Wiki method! Soltera 14:30, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
