Science Creates Glass That's Stronger Than Steel

[BehattedWanderer]

I have no idea what that means and neither do you ...

I beg to differ! As a metallurgical and materials engineer, I know precisely what blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

Dude, shut up.

Go do some science.

Build us a Rapture.
And glass armour.
And swords.

The people demand it.

...why would you want glass armor or swords? Even this new malleable glass means your armor would be useless against any attacks, and a sword that shatters or bends on impact seems like the fastest way to Deadsville. Now, a Niobium-Chromium-Molybdenum-Silicon based armor, maybe with tungsten and boron additions...that would be suitable. Or, if you wanted something lighter, a metal matrix or fibrous composite would be much better. Tell you what, you commission, and supply the funds, I'll make you something suitable. An armor strong enough to get run over by a semi without fracturing, how about that? Of course, I can't promise the sheer impact won't liquidize anything inside, but hey, you want armor, I'll make you armor.

 

[Giantcain]

Spoiler: Finally this is plausible

I'm fairly certain that was made with obsidian or volcanic glass or something else that involves a volcano.

Go Fish-man armour

 

[Canadamus Prime]

My question is, are they actually going to call it "transparent aluminum"? Which I would question because aluminum is actually a very fragile metal.

 

[Person342]

Now I imagine a skyscraper made entirely out of this crazy super glass.

9/11 would have gone a bit differently for a start if they had built the twin towers out of this stuff.

 

[Baneat]

with metallic elements like palladium

Damn so it's never gonna be used for anything consumer-based

 

[Singularly Datarific]

Sounds like the glass from Minecraft except shatterproof.

Seeing as your character can break diamonds with his bare hands, I doubt anything could stand up to him.

Now I imagine a skyscraper made entirely out of this crazy super glass.

Now imagine a plane crashing into it, that would look fucking awesome.

No more twin tower type scares for the world! Hooray!

I can only imagine the faces of the people in that tower... XD
Anyways, I'm gonna go see if there are any whales being shipped out of San Francisco soon.

 

[Silver Wolf-King]

One thought, just a thought, but with a slight modification to the concept and structure, I think you'd be able to incorporate this new stuff into weapons. I'm not gonna argue ballistic technology with anybody, because I'm not sure what would happen if you tried to make a gun out of it, but reinforcing the design into say...axe heads and sword blades, or even into bayonets, and suddenly, you have a capable weapon using fewer non-renewable materials. I know at some point, somebody is gonna call me on this, so let me just say: I realize that in this new era, melee combat and hand to hand training are outmoded. I understand that everybody uses guns and that in a fight, I'd probably get killed fast because I like the idea of a close range fight. Its more personal. But, in my case at least, if not anyone else's, I would appreciate a possible design for a weapon thats lightweight, and yet deadly efficient. Anyway, thats my thought on this new material. What can I say, I always advocate possibilities in weapon development when new materials are discovered. I stand ready for any counters to my ideas.

 

[whycantibelinus]

So when you drop the glass, instead of
"shit, I just broke the glass",
its more of,
"crap, I just shattered the tile it landed on! Hey the glass is fine"

Step 1: Bendy glass
Step 2: Bendy tile
Step 3: ???????
Step 4: Profit

 

[Tipsy Giant]

I have no idea what that means and neither do you

Just a few things that were on my mind when the writer of this article dropped a piece of straw on my back.

The Escapists science articles have been biting at my last nerve too, details people, don't treat us like we are idiots just because you don't understand it

 

[teh_spartan]

I have no idea what that means and neither do you but his point, I think, is that time travel is just around the corner.

i know exactly what that means thank you very much

 

[acrh2]

It sounds to me that you want super light blades. The weight is not the problem here. Never has been. It's the ability to pocket the blade.

 

[Logic 0]

Soon we shall make matter generators and matter transporters.

 

[goldenheart323]

Sadly, this lab-based material is probably nowhere near mass-production ready. I see this concept lying dormant for years, a scientific curiosity, or being used to manufacture already-expensive spacecraft windshields.

Good guess. By reading the actual article, I learned the thickest they can make this stuff is 6 millimeters. That glass skyscraper's quite a long ways off.

I have no idea what that means and neither do you...

It's fine if a writer on a video game site doesn't fully understand everything in a science report, but even jokingly saying none of your readers will understand it either is pretty low brow. Just because it's meant as a joke doesn't mean it's not insulting. Some people don't seem to grasp that concept. I took it as a joke & was not offended, but I still felt it really dumbed down the site as a whole.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Hopefully this will lead to Ferris-Fibrous and Endo-Steel.
I want my Shadowcat!

 

[CrystalShadow]

What I find most amusing is that during Scotty's time I would guess transparent aluminum was used for ship portholes (windows) primarily. But then comes better and more efficient forcefield technology eliminating the need...starting with the Enterprise B.
The Irony!
I guess we can call this stuff Transparent Palladium. This makes me happy as if it becomes mainstream, a good friend of mine has even better job security at the mine he works. Yay science!

I don't know about that...

The future of the Star Trek universe (Eg. TNG, DS9, Voyager), all still seem to involve using something glass-like in windows.

Although the forcefield technology has definitely improved. (In the last TNG era film, the bridge lost a large chunk of it's forward bulkhead. - A forcefield activated accross the gap quickly enough that only a single person, who was closest to the hole, out of a dozen on the bridge got sucked out into space.)

I guess it makes sense though. A forcefield, no matter how good, presumably requires power to operate.
As a result, you don't actually want to use it unless you have to. (but it definitely makes matters easier in areas where you'd otherwise need an airlock or de-pressurization routine.)

 

[Autofaux]

"Hello, computer!"

It's not transparent aluminium, but for now it'll do.

 

[thahat]

Cool, but how much does it cost though? Would it be economical to place it in my house or car? Or would it cost quite a bit.

the key word is palladium. so it would indeed cost quite a bit. unless its like 0,01 % paladium XD

 

[Corpse XxX]

hope they make cars out of this stuff, they would be see-through and there would be no such thing as rust..

But i do wonder, that if its a window, that this is also actually a "solid" liquid as normal glass is, in that case it would deterorate as normal glass making it "puncture".. That would not be so awesome..

 

[(LK)]

Cool, but how much does it cost though? Would it be economical to place it in my house or car? Or would it cost quite a bit.

Palladium is roughly as valuable as platinum. The current industrial-scale supplies of both are also mostly spoken for already, as they're used as catalysts in automobiles and industrial chemical reactors. It's reasonable to assume that putting this glass into large scale production would nudge the price of palladium a little higher than it already is.

That said, if you buy a car you're already probably buying a substantial amount of platium or palladium anyways, as they're used in the exhaust system's catalytic converter to reduce smog emissions.

Car safety glass is already very safe and exactly as durable as it needs to be without being too durable, though. It's actually desireable to be able to break the windows out as this can be used to rescue trapped passengers after a serious crash. For reasons stated above I'm not sure I'd use it in home windows, either. Imagine the neighborhood kids hitting a baseball into your window and leaving a permanent dent. Oi.