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Transparent Aluminum Is ‘New State Of Matter’
Science Daily ^ | (July 27, 2009) | staff

Posted on 07/27/2009 11:22:27 AM PDT by saganite

Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. ‘Transparent aluminium’ previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion.

In the journal Nature Physics an international team, led by Oxford University scientists, report that a short pulse from the FLASH laser ‘knocked out’ a core electron from every aluminium atom in a sample without disrupting the metal’s crystalline structure. This turned the aluminium nearly invisible to extreme ultraviolet radiation.

''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, one of the authors of the paper. ‘Transparent aluminium is just the start. 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.’

(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: aluminium; aluminum; coldfusion; engineering; fusion; science; startrek; stringtheory
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"Hello computer. Computer"?
1 posted on 07/27/2009 11:22:27 AM PDT by saganite
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To: saganite

“Is it worth something to ya laddie; or should I just punch up ‘clear’”?


2 posted on 07/27/2009 11:23:33 AM PDT by GunRunner
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To: saganite

Star Trek IV?


3 posted on 07/27/2009 11:23:50 AM PDT by silverleaf (If you can't be a good example, at least don't be a horrible lesson)
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To: saganite
http://mattdavid.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/scotty-trek4.jpg

Agggh, laddie, we had transparent aluminum twenty years ago!

4 posted on 07/27/2009 11:24:50 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: saganite

Its gonna be useful in the nuclear wessels.


5 posted on 07/27/2009 11:24:52 AM PDT by Armedanddangerous (I think youre so full of inconsolable rage you don't care who you hurt)
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To: saganite

Make like Clark Kent and watch the coffee perk. Yeah! Bring it on!


6 posted on 07/27/2009 11:24:56 AM PDT by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast ("Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless.")
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To: silverleaf

Save the whales.


7 posted on 07/27/2009 11:25:03 AM PDT by Petronski (In Germany they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist...)
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To: silverleaf

8 posted on 07/27/2009 11:25:11 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: saganite

9 posted on 07/27/2009 11:25:27 AM PDT by SlowBoat407 (Achtung. preparen zie fur die obamahopenchangen.)
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To: saganite

“Use the keyboard? How crude.”


10 posted on 07/27/2009 11:26:23 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: Petronski

Collect the whole set!


11 posted on 07/27/2009 11:26:30 AM PDT by silverleaf (If you can't be a good example, at least don't be a horrible lesson)
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To: saganite

Transparent aluminium but will hold beer???


12 posted on 07/27/2009 11:27:07 AM PDT by Vaduz
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To: saganite

“A keyboard....how quaint.”


13 posted on 07/27/2009 11:27:13 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (Too many conservatives urge retreat when the war of politics doesn't go their way.)
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To: saganite
‘Transparent aluminium’ previously only existed in science fiction

Um, hello? Sapphire is transparent aluminum...

14 posted on 07/27/2009 11:27:55 AM PDT by B-Chan (Catholic. Texan. Monarchist. Any questions?)
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To: Da Coyote

The funny part was he was obviously an excellent typist.


15 posted on 07/27/2009 11:28:12 AM PDT by MrB (Go Galt now, save Bowman for later)
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To: saganite

*In a Scottish accent


16 posted on 07/27/2009 11:28:36 AM PDT by bintenn
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To: silverleaf

Just a damn minute, admiral.


17 posted on 07/27/2009 11:28:47 AM PDT by P8riot (I carry a gun because I can't carry a cop.)
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To: silverleaf

18 posted on 07/27/2009 11:30:33 AM PDT by P8riot (I carry a gun because I can't carry a cop.)
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To: GunRunner
“Is it worth something to ya laddie; or should I just punch up ‘clear’”?

"Not now, Madeline!"

19 posted on 07/27/2009 11:31:22 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (Too many conservatives urge retreat when the war of politics doesn't go their way.)
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To: saganite

Fanscinating, Captain.


20 posted on 07/27/2009 11:32:00 AM PDT by FormerRep
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