Scientists Claim New State of Matter Created - Transparent aluminum

[Kadie]

Scientists Claim New State of Matter Created

LiveScience Staff
livescience.com – Wed Jul 29, 6:22 am ET

Scientists claim to have created a form of aluminum that's nearly transparent to extreme ultraviolet radiation and which is a new state of matter.

It's an idea straight out of science fiction, featured in the movie "Star Trek IV."

snip...
The normal states of matter are solid, liquid and gas, and a fourth state, called plasma, is a superheated gas considered more exotic. Other experiments have created strange states of matter for brief periods. This one, too, existed only briefly.

To create the new, even more exotic stuff, a short pulse from a laser "knocked out" a core electron from every aluminum atom in a sample without disrupting the metal's crystalline structure, the researchers explain.

''What we have created is a completely new state of matter nobody has seen before," said professor Justin Wark of Oxford University's Department of Physics.

"Transparent aluminum is just the start," Wark said. "The physical properties of the matter we are creating are relevant to the conditions inside large planets, and we also hope that by studying it we can gain a greater understanding of what is going on during the creation of 'miniature stars' created by high-power laser implosions, which may one day allow the power of nuclear fusion to be harnessed here on Earth."

mom...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090729/sc_livescience/scientistsclaimnewstateofmattercreated

[Beetwasher]

1. Paging Scotty!

:wow:

[imdjh]

2. I loved it when he spoke to the computer, but then somehow still knew how to type.

Was this suggesting that programming was still done manually with keyed in code?

[eShirl]

6. he was probably a hobbyist w/ old tech when he was a kid

that's my theory and I'm sticking to it

[imdjh]

7. He probably has an old Mac in his quarters.... that still works.

[Ian David]

13. Scotty used his great-grandfather's computer to access 21st century porn. n/t

[imdjh]

16. I like vintage porn. Can't stand all these shaved and waxed people. They look like aliens.

[hfojvt]

20. I suppose that makes a little sense

I thought the scene was kinda silly when he starts typing like a maniac. I knew the computer would just go "bad command or file name" and Scotty would say 'what graphics program are you using? What version? Sheesh, let me see if I can remember something from a book I read on archaic computer languages.' But in the world of TV, Scotty being a computer expert, has no problem with 300 year old software.

[jayfish]

8. It Suggested That Mechanical Keyboards Were Abandoned Sometime...

early in his life. His comment before he cracks his knuckles and begins to type is "how quaint".

Jay

[HughMoran]

11. "How quaint"

:D

[T Wolf]

4. "How do we know HE isn't the one who invented it?" Now, off to save the whales...

[havocmom]

3. Somewhere in the great beyond

Scotty is smiling

[dembotoz]

5. who is to say it wasn't him who invented it.

maybe the movie was real???????

[cayanne]

9. cloaking device

was my first thought and Scotty came second

:fistbump:

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

10. It gives "Clear Coat" all new meaning.

Nothing like having a car with this aluminum as its skin. Would be neat to watch the engine run without the noise.

[wileedog]

12. Wonder Woman is pleased

p.s. Is an invisible jet that leave you visible the dumbest invention ever?

[JuniperLea]

14. I had that exact picture in mind!

I love when comic book gadgets come to life:)

[Ian David]

15. Let's sell Wonder Woman an invisible bra! n/t

[Chulanowa]

17. I never could figure that one out

I guess it's from some sort of "superheroes gotta fly!" outlook from the silver Age or something, but... Yeah. Invisible plane is dumb.

[Maru Kitteh]

23. It was an excuse to not cover up her half-nakedness.

[Curtland1015]

26. I dunno, I nominate the "Snuggie"

"Blanket with sleeves" my ASS! It's just a backwards bath robe!!!

[BlooInBloo]

18. Coolness.

[dysfunctional press]

19. the "transparent aluminum in star trek was transparent to visible light-

you could see thru it like plexiglass...this stuff just says that it is transparent to 'extreme ultraviolet radiation'- which doesn't sound like visible light would pass thru it.

[FourScore]

21. fascinating! n/t

[Maru Kitteh]

22. Whoa. That's fascinating stuff. Thanks for the link.

[Greyhound]

24. K&R, so very cool.

"How do we know he didn't invent the thing?"

[Fumesucker]

25. I'm under the impression that pure transparent substances are not electrical conductors..

I wonder if this transparent aluminum is a conductor or an insulator?

[KDFW]

29. Maybe it's a semiconductor.

Hard to imagine how it would be dimensionally stable though...
:shrug:

[librechik]

27. cool--my tinfoil hat is way too opaque. I could use a transparent one

better for the undercover ops.

[TlalocW]

28. I wouldn't get too excited. Pepsi did this in the late 80s/early 90s

Creating Crystal Pepsi. It didn't go over that well.

TlalocW

[eppur_se_muova]

30. "Short-lived" is right -- 40 femtoseconds.

A femtosecond is 10^-15 of a second, or one millionth of a billionth of a second.

[1monster]

31. Waaay coool! It's not just for STAR TREK anymore!