Layers of diffraction grating Au is layered on diffraction grating Au, so that a bulk mass builds up that always look shimmery green (or blue) yet is actually Au metal. anyway you bend or slice it it is still green (or blue) This could work with any metal.
New kinds of coins or jewelry or coins could be produced that even when polished could stay Au (green or blue)-- beanangel, Sep 24 2016 Green gold, alchemy in Blackadder https://www.youtube...watch?v=TkZFuKHXa7w [not_morrison_rm, Sep 25 2016] Oh yeah...busted.-- blissmiss, Sep 24 2016 A few problems.
(1) Why use gold? This would be a bit like imitation MDF made out of burr walnut.
(2) Gold is soft - your diffraction grating won't survive handling.
(3) The entire situation in Syria.
(4) What [Ian] said.
(5) Diffraction gratings as decoration are WKTE.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 24 2016 about (2) this differs from a surface diffraction gating, it is a bunch of layers, so polishing, sort of like silver polishing could leave it diffraction grating colored
(1) I was looking for a discount mithril substitute! One of the benefits of a microstructured material could be overlapping # layers, sort of like a composite, creating adjustable, heightened strength, so it mithril-like outperforms other metals.
(5) are heaps of layers of polishable metal WKTE? um, perhaps otherwise.
(4) actually I am urging everyone to rummage through previous unpublished ideas, this is an old unpublished idea. I think more people putting things, even their old unpublished ideas on the .5b will be beneficial!-- beanangel, Sep 24 2016 //looking for a discount mithril substitute// [marked-for-tagline]-- FlyingToaster, Sep 25 2016 // mithril substitute //
Gold is a bad starting point. Gold is soft, ductile, and very dense.
"It could be beaten like copper, and polished like glass; and the Dwarves could make of it a metal, light and yet harder than tempered steel."
Some Aluminium alloys come close to this specification; Titanium isn't easy to work, and oxidises rapidly, but surface treatments like anodization can help. But so far your puny Earth science hasn't developed anything like a proper mithril substitute.-- 8th of 7, Sep 25 2016 //this differs from a surface diffraction gating, it is a bunch of layers//
OK, maybe I don't get this. Are you talking about:
(a) Gratings (ie, regularly spaced ridges) on a gold surface or
(b) Semi-transparent coatings of defined thickness, deposited on the gold (like the coatings on modern lenses that make them appear coloured when viewed at an angle)
?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 25 2016 //Earth science hasn't developed anything like a proper mithril substitute// Pah! Many small items are sold in blister-packs made from a transparent substance which is light, flexible and impenetrable by all known implements.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 25 2016 Next up, MaxCo Armoured Defence & Picture Framing Corp. present their new lightweight combat vehicle, which discards conventional plating and reactive armour in favour of a double layer of those damned plastic blister packs that inkjet cartridges come in ...-- 8th of 7, Sep 25 2016 The prototype has been ready for evaluation since last July. Unfortunately, none of us can figure out how to get into the bloody thing.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 25 2016 Thermite ?-- 8th of 7, Sep 25 2016 Yes, or then again they might not.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 25 2016 /rimshot/-- bungston, Sep 25 2016 random, halfbakery