4 ms·
I would assume "light and strong" is mostly valuable for frames of cars, building, and airplanes, not the parts people lick or come in contact with all that muc
by lkbm 8y ago
I would assume "light and strong" is mostly valuable for frames of cars, building, and airplanes, not the parts people lick or come in contact with all that much.
Ultra-light backpackers will still need to use titanium for their spoons, but if an airplane can cut down on its weight, that's worth a lot.
- gumby 8y agoAs an ULBP I don't use metal spoons because they function really poorly in freezing conditions. Bamboo works as well for me...actually I try to eat things that don't need any more tools than my knife.
- snowwrestler 8y agoTitanium spoons for backpackers are just silly. If you want a metal utensil, aluminum is even lighter than titanium. Titanium is tougher but it's not like your utensil is a load-bearing beam. Plastic utensils are even lighter than aluminum and don't transmit heat as fast or get as cold in the cold. Wood utensils are good too.
- lenticular 8y agoTitanium is mainly just a marketing thing for consumer products. It's not really a broadly useful material in the same way steel is. Expensive, difficult to machine or weld, etc. Advances in steel alloys have reduced the strength/weight advantage to be minimal or nonexistent. It's good for some things though, most notably high temperature applications like gas turbine blades.
- zafka 8y agoTitanium is used for medical implants as it is bio-compatible.
- tropo 8y agoThey are luxury, but not silly. Aluminum disintegrates in acidic food. It has been associated with Alzheimer's disease. It can crack. Wood can not be cleaned, it splits, and it even has slivers. Plastic melts or burns. Plastic cracks. Plastic gets discolored, often by foods that contain both oil and tomatoes. BPA has been a problem, and the substitutes in BPA-free plastic are sometimes suspected of being worse.
- snowwrestler 8y agoAnodized aluminum is food-safe and is commonly used in pans, where it experiences much harsher chemical exposure than dipping a spoon into some freeze-dried pasta. Wood can definitely be cleaned. Wood spoons are a common item in any kitchen where meals are commonly prepared. Bamboo is even tougher and easier to clean. It's not hard to keep plastic utensils from melting or cracking. I still use the same plastic camp utensils I got decades ago. I was working in outdoor retail when titanium utensils started being sold. Guess what? People ate just fine before them. When people started buying the titanium utensils, I would sometimes ask why (not challenging, just curious). To a person, they all said: because they're so light. (They were heavier than the plastic spoons.) I agree that they're a luxury, the same way a $200 Dolce & Gabbana t-shirt is a luxury: high price for no additional benefit. Triumph of marketing.
- Haga 8y agoCars deteriorate, materials are disassembled and reused, the orderly world in your head is not real and materials need to be safe for a chaotic one