Replace all the plumbing in your house with state-of-the-plumbing-art transparent pipes made out of transparent alumina.
Imagine the fun as you watch the water and, whatever else, flowing through the pipes (that's if you install them outside of the walls, like they are in my apartment). Instantly find clogs. Reduce plumbing bills. Enjoy life.-- SpocksEyebrow, May 11 2005 Transparent Alumina http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/8/8/9Read article then click image to see examples. Google "transparent aluminum" for better photos. [SpocksEyebrow, May 11 2005] Transparent aluminum, you say?-- Soterios, May 11 2005 I'm thinking Yuck, Centre Georges Pompidou and aluminum/plastic what?! all at once.-- bristolz, May 11 2005 Check out the link. Soon we will be able to save the whales.-- SpocksEyebrow, May 11 2005 After cleaning my clogged sink I have a pretty good idea what's in my pipes, and I definitely don't want to see it.-- 5th Earth, May 11 2005 I think transparent alumina is a fairly far cry from an "aluminum/plastic hybrid." The former is close to amorphous sapphire (that would be a lattice if allowed to cool more slowly) and makes sense while the latter hints at an unholy blend of lattice and long-chain and doesn't make much sense.
But, hey, Fraunhofer also gave us the MP3 so, who knows.-- bristolz, May 11 2005 Someone just watched the Star Trek movie where Scotty gives a manufacturer the key to clear alluminum, to obtain plexiglass walls to build the tank to put the whales in.-- 10clock, May 11 2005 I'm not sure I want a transparent waste pipe from the upstairs loo running through the rest of my house.-- hippo, May 11 2005 This is baked, at least in industry. I’ve been in laboratories where the piping was both exposed and transparent. But why alumina? Because it sounds like Scotty’s transparent aluminum, of course.-- ldischler, May 11 2005 Eventually this will lead to pay-per-view-piping.-- hidden truths, May 11 2005 I`ll find clogs?-- goatfaceKilla, May 11 2005 hehe. eh... sigh.-- SpocksEyebrow, May 11 2005 What's my goldfish doing in that pipe!!!?-- Zimmy, May 11 2005 I think this would be very handy for Floridians with 2 meter pythons coming up through the toilet bowl. They would have improved information with which to report to the animal control people.-- Soterios, May 11 2005 Also baked in dairies that have glass piping.-- wittyhoosier, Dec 24 2006 I know I saw this clear pipes scheme on the HB at least once. I have a vague concept of an edgy bar in which the walls are decorated with clear sections of pipe from all the various appliances in the tower above. One could sip a drink and watch the passing parade. So to speak.
If someone remembers that idea, go ahead and link it up here.-- bungston, Mar 26 2014 random, halfbakery