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Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.
From Fiction to Fact : Transparent Aluminum
The Fiction: Star Trek is a wellspring of sci-fi to sci-fact ideas. Take, for example, transparent aluminum. In Star Trek 4, Scotty gives a present day engineer a formula to create transparent aluminum in exchange for building a giant tank to hold a Humpback whale. If you haven’t seen Star Trek 4, you’re probably wondering how they get the whale into the tank, but that’s another sci-fi bit of technology at work.
The Fact: Transparent aluminum exists! In 2009, scientists at Oxford created a transparent form of aluminum by firing a powerful laser at the material. For a brief moment, after blasting it, the material itself transformed. What does that mean? Well, imagine if you could turn lead into gold with just a shot of light. It’s the same thing. Transparent aluminum is just the beginning of what’s possible.
I work with metals and had no idea that transparent aluminum actually exists. I thought it was just a Star Trek concept. It certainly would change the look of soda cans.
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