# Transparent Aluminum? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 24, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-aluminum/261181 "2004-08-24T00:15:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-aluminum/261181/1 "2004-08-24T00:15:55Z")
[http://physicsweb.org/article/news/8/8/9](http://physicsweb.org/article/news/8/8/9) Anyone seen any recent news pieces on missing whales or UFOs over San Francisco? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-aluminum/261181/2 "2004-08-24T00:18:55Z")
Neat. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-aluminum/261181/3 "2004-08-24T00:43:40Z")
On the way to work today, a little guy with a funny accent asked me where the “nuclear wessels” were kept. Man, was he lost. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-aluminum/261181/4 "2004-08-24T00:58:07Z")
[Looks like the same stuff NASA developed a year ago.](http://www.spacedaily.com/news/materials-03zh.html) ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-aluminum/261181/5 "2004-08-24T01:28:00Z")
_ **bzzzzzt!** _ Sorry, _alumina_ is not _aluminum_. The former is a rock; the latter is a metal. The former contains aluminum in an oxidized state; the latter is the elemental form of aluminum with few impurities. The former is a glass; the latter is crystalline or polycrystalline. The former is an insulator, with a very large gap between valence and conduction bands; the latter is a metal with no gap between valence and conduction bands. Transparent alumina is not what Montgomery Scott revealed the formula to; it was transparent aluminum. Even the editors of slashdot fell victim to this error of ignorance. :eek: But _this_ is The Straight Dope. 🆒😃 Even if it is the Mundane part… ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-aluminum/261181/6 "2004-08-24T01:43:16Z")
Admiral. There be whales here! ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-aluminum/261181/7 "2004-08-24T02:33:26Z")
Hello? computer? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-aluminum/261181/8 "2004-08-24T02:42:19Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > Hello? computer? Just use the keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-aluminum/261181/9 "2004-08-24T02:43:15Z")
Hnh. How quaint. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-aluminum/261181/10 "2004-08-24T02:54:23Z")
> [@bughunter](#): > > _ **bzzzzzt!** _ > > Sorry, _alumina_ is not _aluminum_. The former is a rock; the latter is a metal. The former contains aluminum in an oxidized state; the latter is the elemental form of aluminum with few impurities. The former is a glass; the latter is crystalline or polycrystalline. The former is an insulator, with a very large gap between valence and conduction bands; the latter is a metal with no gap between valence and conduction bands. > > Transparent alumina is not what Montgomery Scott revealed the formula to; it was transparent aluminum. > > Even the editors of slashdot fell victim to this error of ignorance. :eek: > > But _this_ is The Straight Dope. 🆒😃 > > Even if it is the Mundane part… Hey, now, people who live in fully crystallized alumina-rare earth oxide ceramic houses shouldn’t throw stones! ---
**Author:** ![Call\_me\_Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Call\_me\_Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Call_me_Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-aluminum/261181/11 "2004-08-24T04:32:15Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Hnh. How quaint. Not _now_ Madeleine! Out of sequence, I know, but no one can see me randomly pecking at keys and running through molecular formulas… ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2004, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transparent-aluminum/261181/12 "2004-08-24T06:22:14Z")
> [@bughunter](#): > > Sorry, _alumina_ is not _aluminum_. The former is a rock; the latter is a metal. Technically, alumina is a mineral. Rock has a less exact (and often less uniform) chemical composition than a mineral does. Kind of a petty nitpick, but like you said this is the Straight Dope. 😉