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Dry Ice Made into Super-tough Glass
janus zeal writes "A form of solid carbon dioxide that could be used to make ultra-hard glass or coatings for microelectronic devices has been discovered.
The material, named amorphous carbonia, was created by scientists from the University of Florence in Italy.
Writing in the journal Nature, the team says the material was theoretically possible but had never been created.
It was made by squeezing dry ice, a form of carbon dioxide used to create smoke in stage shows, at huge pressure.
Scientists are interested in the new material because of the potential applications. Also, they believe it could give them clues to the processes that happen in the center of huge gas giant planets such as Jupiter."
I don't see this stuff replacing transparent aluminum anytime soon.
This is a hell of a thing if hey manage to find a way of making it stable at room teperature and pressure - a glass that has a similar strength to diamond made from a highly available source material? I can see a ridiculous number of uses for this!
open your mind too much and your brain falls out!
yeah, ice is pretty damn hard at -270 degrees i hear too.
At room temperature, dry ice vaporizes. The only way for it to maintain its structure is under pressure. All we need to do is find some way to lower the global temperature and increase pressure...
Reminds me of the cartoon of the scientist at the blackboard with a series of equations on one side and concluding equation on the other with "And then a miracle happens." in between.
Seastead this.
Scratch-proof iPod screens of course!
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Well, we could suck all the Co2 out of the atmosphere. This would remove the greenhouse effect, both the manmade one and the naturally occuring one, and drop the planetary temperature. And we get our Co2 for making this stuff in the bargin! It's a win-win situation (well, except for the living - they'll be royally screwed - but they were just taking up space anyways).
Erotic is when you use a feather. Exotic is when you use the whole chicken.
As if getting crushed by atmospheric pressure wasn't bad enough on the Jovian aliens, now they are getting pelted with hard glass when they venture into th Giant Red Spot storm too?
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Wouldn't it be easier to just fund more research into making current diamond-producing processes better at forming larger pieces of diamond which could be used to make plate glass or such? I mean, geez, carbon dioxide a solid at room temperature...
I'm not on campus (it's saturday, wee!), so I can't access the original Nature article, but I have a feeling the "stable at room temp" bit was misinterpreted by the BBC writers. I really don't see any practical way to keep the molecules together at room temp and atmospheric pressure - there's a reason CO2 is a gas. Silicon glass is a sort of weird case - most materials that show a glassy transition do it at a much lower temperature, or are largely temperature independent. When people try to run simulations to describe glassy behavior, they generally assume zero-temperature and quenched disorder.
FWIW, I spent the last two years working on computational study of spin glasses, and am working on my PhD in soft condensed matter, of which glasses are a huge part.
For stage shows, fog machines are far more controllable and produce better results than dropping dry ice in water. They use "fog juice" rather than dry ice.
Though sometimes you'll use dry ice to cool the resulting fog. The hot fog gives you a smoky, atmospheric effect. If you want ground-hugging fog, you've got to cool it down, and dry ice is a pretty good way to chill it quickly.
So are nipples. But you don't see those used in construction, do ya?
(Well, actually you do. But on the workers, not the buildings. And let's face it, those aren't nipples most of us want to see.)
All I want to know is ... can I capture and transport my bounties in it????
DELETED!
Cheap flights into Elbonia often connect through the Amorphous, Carbonia international airport. Unfortunately the town's not very stable when it's warm out.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
All we have to do is start sucking up all the carbon dioxide out of the air, and convert it into little waste cubes that can be dumped in landfills or baby seal breeding grounds. It's foolproof!
Hehehehehehehe...Carbonia...
the term Vaporware Windows to a whole new level!
You must write The Book, and then tear away belief. Only you can save the light of man --Gary Numan
- Mike
Once you've lost your temper, you've lost the argument - Me
> Well, we could suck all the Co2 out of the atmosphere. That would kill all the plants and also our main source of Oxygen, which we need to be able to breathe. Great going! :)
If it's not stable at room temperature or pressure, I wonder what happens when it breaks. As for that jazz about understanding the inner workings of the planet Jupiter...
I for one welcome our new exploding glass overlords.
Aye, and transparent aluminum will be next.
Humor nazi mode engaged. IT WAS A JOKE. TO the showers with you. End Humor nazi mode.
"A form of solid carbon dioxide that could be used to make ultra-hard glass or coatings for microelectronic devices has been discovered. The material, named amorphous carbonia, was created by scientists from the University of Florence in Italy [CC] [MD] [GC]."
So how much prior art will go into the upcoming patent?
BTW "That is plain wrong. Every single claim is a granted monopoly, regardless of the number of the claim and of whether it's an independent or dependent claim."
If your going to play slashlawyer then your going to have to back this up. Sorry but we have a reputation to maintain.
This could be really big for space travel if it overcomes the main shortfall of common glass windows: sagging and ultimately flowing right out of the window frames over time. This is a huge barrier to the long-term space travel needed to get to other solar systems. Just imagine how fast normal glass would deform if they spun the space ship to maintain 1G! Does anyone know if this new glass is more flow-resistant?
It's also worth noting that this stuff doesn't do so well under normal temperature and pressure. It seems like it would be great for space travel since there's almost none of either out there.
put all the excess carbon dioxide into our ipod screens.
What was the surprise of the terrorists when they attempted to crash another plane into the brand new skyscraper.
Baby seals don't breed.
well, except for the living - they'll be royally screwed
All he said was "LOL!" and he was modded up as informative? Damn. I'll try it.
The next stage of the research is to work out how to make the glass stable at room temperature and pressure.
ROFL!
Would you kindly mod me +1 insightful?
What should we call this incredibly tough transparent material made from dry ice (CO2)? I know , we should call it diamond!
This was in science fiction about the outer satellites 40 years ago. When will you people learn to go to the original source??
Is this the only this we can say about dry ice that the layman understands? The industrial applications of dry ice are quite numerous, it has far more utility than making magic smoke
Pretty simple....just remove the oxygen and change it into a crystalline form from amorphous.
This stuff only exists under huge pressure; it's not stable under ordinary conditions.
Compare xenon hexafluoride, a compound of an inert element, something once thought to be impossible. It is also created under high pressure, but it remains a crystalline solid at room temperature and pressure.
Glass flow, read all about it. For your reading pleasure.
But instead of increasing the pressure, this will actually lower the pressure!
Creating a form of carbon dioxide that's solid at room temp - kind of reminds me of ice-nine.
> dry ice, a form of carbon dioxide used to create smoke in stage shows
I'm pretty sure that's the dictionary definition of dry ice. Yep; just checked. Good to know there's actually a use for it.
Does anyone else see the temperature req for dry ice and think space? sure, limited demand, but eh, one day itd be good. After all, what sucks more than your window breaking in space? damn kids with a baseball can be lethal.
The whole process can be seen on this video clip
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I hope this was all a joke but here goes anyway...
"big for space travel if it overcomes the main shortfall of common glass windows: sagging and ultimately flowing right out of the window frames"
-Glass has no special property that makes it "flow" - EVERYTHING flows - and it's not a shortfall to ANY glass application (not by a long shot)
"Just imagine how fast normal glass"
-Normal glass? on the space shuttle?
"It's also worth noting that this stuff doesn't do so well under normal temperature and pressure. It seems like it would be great for space travel since there's almost none of either out there."
-There is a LOT of temperature and pressure (heat and gravity) out there - in fact, there is all the temperature and pressure in the universe out there
...and nuke all the sand-niggers into oblivion at the same time. Just profits!
Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
Gnomes 3 easy steps to take over the world
Step 1: Press dry ice into super tough carbon
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit!
I can upgrade my igloo to a super-strong ice/glassy material! I can't wait to tell my friends!
Isn't that graphite?
I saw this on Real Genious years ago.
At least I read the article!
But I think it'll be a while before they cast a martini glass in the stuff.
"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
So, it this the stuff that they used in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes back when they encased Han Solo in carbonite?
A closed mouth gathers no foot.
Damn...
I always seem to get +5 Funny and never anything else so my karma is only good.
Do Ihave to beg for +1 Insighful?
Bet this
Normal glass, like you'd find in a window, looks a lot like a liquid on a molecular scale. It's theoretically possible for it to flow, and a lot of people have figured it did exactly that when they looked at old windows and found them all ripply.
Here's the surprise, though. The old windows were uneven when they were new. Before the float glass process, windows were produced by glass blowers. A flat even sheet would have been a miracle.
I've heard of big refracting telescopes being disabled by glass flowing. Is that for real, or is that somebody's scrambled report about elastic distortions with changes in elevation?
'Toughness' refers to the ability to absorb energy, such as impact shatter resistance. It does not mean that the glass is stronger than regular silica glass.
To building the big force field around the Earth that we've all wanted since Spaceballs.
The last thing I want to know is what it's like in the middle of a giants gass.
I am a firefighter. Actually, I'm a Lt. on an Engine company -- one of the volunteer firefighters who protect about 40% of the US population (most people don't realize how much of the US is protected by volunteer firefighters).
We train using fog machines frequently, because if something goes wrong you can remove your SCBA and breath normally.
In a training event for "Explorers" not too long ago, we used this fake smoke on a hot day. We had to cancel the use of it because several of the kids has asthma attacks. After investigating, the only explanation we could find, was that the appearance of smoke creates the expectation that it will be difficult to breathe. That expectation can be self fulfilling -- especially in young people who have had bad reactions to actual smoke in the past.
Oh well.
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
Well, GGP is now modded 20% redundant and 50% overrated. Mostly because of what GP posted. Incidentally, GP posted the same thing as GGP. Lets see if this creates some sort of self-fulfilling karmic prophecy. heh
Well, just goes to show how useless the slashdot moderation system is.
That, or not enough people are meta-modding.
Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?
Well, imagine the business you could start... "Buy our oxygen-generator or die!" =)
Is there a competition for shortest post?
Think of this guys and gals, if we cant use it for glass we create a business to create big blocks of carbon-type and stick it into "garbage-can Earth" thus solving the high carbon levels though we dont need to change.
This is fantastic...Think of the business!
[J]
Amorphus Carbonia... Back in the day, we referred to it as "carbonite"
-ubuntu others as you would have others ubuntu you.
Scotty already made this stuff in Star Trek IV.
CO2 is a very usefull industrial solvent and gas, as a liquid solvent it's used for every thing from dry-cleaning clothes to degreasing everything imaginable. It's more common solid form maybe used for a refrigerant or even as a blasting media, sort of like sand-blasting and the sand evaporates away after being used rather than needing to be swept up! Most industrial CO2 is made from decomposing limestone, or from burning natural gas. The interesting thing about extracting CO2 from limestone is the lime byproduct scavenges CO2 from the atmosphere resulting in a closed-loop system!
If you wanted to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere, the best way would be to simply pump air down near the bottom of the ocean! The CO2 at those presures and temeratures liquify and sink, the rest of the air just bubbles to the surface. Don't think of this as practicle, but it is possible.
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
*Lots* of elements have interesting properties at that kind of pressure. IIRC Water changes into a different crystalline structure, Ammonia acts like a metal. Problem is, most of these states are unstable. You can't hold a chunk of Ice-X or Metallic Ammonia, not unless you're somewhere near the core of Jupiter. We're talking pressures in the GigaPascal range, not something you can do at home with a good pair of pliers.
Here. I ought to know, since I posted it back then.
Call them "non-human animals" or "differently-abled animals".
On a more serious note, many non-human species display curiosity, which is a type of want of knowledge.
For example, chimp kids watch their parents or others to learn how to use a stick to get termites out of a termite mound.
One thing that seems to be unique to humans is the desire (of some humans, anyway) to pass knowledge on to others.
This can be both good (schoolteachers, research labs, the Open Source and Free Software movements, etc.) and bad (televangelists and inquisitioners, Soviet and Red Chinese "education" facilities, some religious "schools", etc.).
But however good or bad pure research may be, whether or not it might lead to benefits for humanity, it's not any government's place to take my money and give it to others to perform such research.
And leaving aside the moral reasons of what is and what is not a government's responsibility in such matters, there is also the problem that research can be skewed by a corrupt government, as the U.S. federal government is currently doing with government-funded research into humanity's effect on the environment, for example.
Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana