6 ms·
> They also predict that substituting gold atoms into the Pb(1) site could lead to a material with very similar properties, which will be an extremely interesti
by mrandish 3y ago
> They also predict that substituting gold atoms into the Pb(1) site could lead to a material with very similar properties, which will be an extremely interesting idea to put to the test.
Since the base material is lead apatite, I had a random thought that maybe medieval alchemists trying to turn lead into gold just had it backward, as doping gold into lead might be a breakthrough. :-)
- itsarnavb 3y agoNow I'm imagining what history would have looked like if the alchemists had indeed stumbled upon a floating lead apatite sample a few centuries ago...
- javajosh 3y agoGood idea! They wouldn't have been able to do any applications without a voltaic cell, and it would have been a novelty. Like gunpowder in ancient China.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ASalazarMX 3y agoThe force of tradition is amazing. Imagine centuries knowing how to make something that explodes violently, and using it for entertainment instead of weapons. Just like how Mesoamerican civilizations invented the wheel, but only used it on children toys and not for transportation. There were no draft animals in the region, but they didn't even make wheelbarrows. https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/home/the-concept-of-the-wheel-in-ancient-mesoamerica https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/home/the-concept-of-the-...
- mvalente_ 3y agoIs there a name for this kind of effect?
- Ericson2314 3y agoThe "untyped languages are just fine" effect :P
- Prickle 3y ago"The road not taken" is a Science Fiction trope that generally explores that idea.
- GMoromisato 3y agoI always call this a "local maximum" problem. Once you've optimized the crap out of your tech, any change makes it worse (e.g., replacing crossbows with primitive guns). But if you do switch, then optimizing that technology takes you to an even higher maximum. The problem is that you have to go backwards to go forwards, and you can't always predict (or convince the powers-that-be) that the end result will be better.
- netrus 3y agoExtremely relevant to electric cars. Looks like we are close to electric > ICE, (or past that point, whatever), but it was a long painful time of hyping subpar cars by those who believed in the potential of the technology.
- GMoromisato 3y agoAgreed! I also believe that once we flip (EV > ICE) the momentum goes the other way. For example, let's say that 50% of cars on the road are EVs. Now gas stations have a problem. You can't survive with half your customers gone, so maybe half the gas stations go out of business. But that means your nearest gas station is much further away, so now the incentive for EV goes up. In California (and the Bay Area, particularly), I bet we'll see this relatively soon.
- hosh 3y agoKeep in mind, the Chinese were using bombs, granades, and rockets in warfare. Cannons were slowly being incorporated during the Ming. It’s just that, the Chinese also had standardized crossbows capable of punching through armor, and allowed for long range sniping, centuries before gunpowder. The Manchus who founded the Qing dynasty valued archery, and were slower to adopt firearms. The mid and late Qing period saw firearm military units, with bows and arrows evolved for powerful short range attacks, ceding long range to firearms. Even so, it looks like Chinese generals were interested in fielding firearms, and found them effective. Wikipedia has a list of theories on why gun development stagnated, and the leading theory is that Chinese fortification were more resistant to cannon fire. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_weapons_in_the_Ming_dynasty https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_weapons_in_the_Min... As far as Mesoamericans and wheels, I’m not sure the hilly terrain and dense jungle would make wheeled transports that easy. They seemed to be able to create step pyramids with stone just fine.
- philwelch 3y agoEven in the west, firearms took centuries of evolution and constant peer-level warfare to evolve into the primary weapon.
- Veserv 3y agoThe Mesoamerican civilizations did not have copper, bronze, or iron metallurgy which is a prerequisite for making the metal rims needed for transportation wheels. A wooden wheel without a metal rim is too fragile for transportation. Without the wheel, humans are actually relatively comparable to other pack animals in carrying efficiency. It is the wheel that makes moving larger loads more efficient which makes it advantageous to domesticate pack animals that can exert greater force.
- AlotOfReading 3y agoBronze was extremely common in Mesoamerica for household goods like needles and fishhooks. Copper was also common, but mainly for ceremonial and ornamental objects like bells. As for wooden wheels being too fragile, you can build a perfectly good wheel without metal bands. It's simply going to be heavy and annoying if you're trying to run a wagon to Oregon.
- arugulum 3y agoAnother example that I read about once and have never been able to verify (or it may be completely made up) is that the because the Chinese invented porcelain first (which was more sturdy than glass or something) they never bothered with glass, which meant they missed out on all the cool astronomical discoveries (which then has implications on their development of mathematics and physics). Again, no idea if there is any validity to this or just something completely made up.
- bluGill 3y agoThe Chinese invented cannons about the time they invented gun power. However by coincidence their forts used stone walls thick enough to resist cannon fire and so it was not really better than the various catapult systems they also had (which also couldn't breach their fort walls). https://acoup.blog/2021/12/17/collections-fortification-part-iv-french-guns-and-italian-lines/ https://acoup.blog/2021/12/17/collections-fortification-part... Goes into this in more detail for a couple paragraphs.
- sorokod 3y agoShooting in steep trajectory, howitzer style, would still be valuable.
- ben_w 3y agoYou have to know it’s possible, and be able to aim at useful internal targets despite this being well before aerial surveillance photographs and calculus. My guess is there’s probably a whole bunch of neat things we could build with existing manufacturing tools, that we don’t yet know are even possible, and which the future will have similar discussions about.
- mikhailfranco 3y agoThe introduction of counterweight trebuchet from the Mongol empire in Persia for the seige of the Southern Sung city of Xiangyang is well documented here: https://deremilitari.org/2014/05/the-mongol-siege-of-xiangyang-and-fan-cheng-and-the-song-military/ https://deremilitari.org/2014/05/the-mongol-siege-of-xiangya... I like the idea of pausing a seige in China to send a message to some experts in Mosul, wait for them to ride back, then build their novel device, and win.
- akomtu 3y agoThe ring of solomon was a curious mix of metals with a magnet in it. Its inventors were definitely up to something.
- themagician 3y agoI want to believe. After several millennia of killing people for gold, we can finally put all that gold to good use—using it to create superconductors that can power energy weapons we can use to kill each other. ♫ It's the circle of life ♫
- bufferoverflow 3y agoPeople cut cables for copper. Imagine what will happen with cables with gold.
- nwiswell 3y agoIt would be sub-10%* gold content. We're talking about gold doping, specifically substitution in the Pb(1) site, not an alloy. ETA: I was off by an order of magnitude (originally I said sub-1%) because the doping is extensive, and the mass of the lead/gold is a dominant fraction of the total. The formula given in the paper is (subscripts in brackets): Pb[10−x]Cu[x](PO4)[6]O with 0.9 < x < 1.1. Similarly for Au we would have Pb[10−x]Au[x](PO4)[6]O. Taking the centerpoint x=1, this becomes Pb[9]Au[1](PO4)[6]O. In other words, there would be one gold atom for every 9 lead atoms. The "unit cell weight" is 2647.59 g/mol, and the molar mass of gold is 196.97 g/mol, so in fact the hypothetical gold weight content is about 7.44%, not sub-1%. That said -- presumably superconducting transmission wires would be thinner than the ones we are used to (a function of critical current rather than resistance). So I'm not sure that we'd have a theft problem worse than we already have with copper.
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- robbintt 3y agoFWIW strip mining operations till materials for ~6 PPM gold.
- cperciva 3y agoThe superconductor itself would be 7.44% gold, but the wire would probably be much less -- superconducting tape isn't particularly strong so it will probably be wrapped up in layers of insulator and support wires.
- Workaccount2 3y agoWatch gold be the only practically viable solution, making this new material wonderful but also incredibly expensive.
- worldsayshi 3y agoTime to start mining asteroids.
- jiggawatts 3y agoIs this how the science fiction future we’ve all read in books becomes reality? SpaceX becomes an evil megacorp mining gold from the asteroid belt with LLM AI controlled robot slaves so that we can make hover cars using superconductors?
- postmodest 3y agoNo no, you use the LLM AI to funnel real people into becoming Belters, then fake their communications back home with those same LLMs, then move your X HQ to Mars and oppress them from there. ...also, Elon would totally pull a Duarte....
- jiggawatts 3y agoYes, I can see it now. “X corp” is the amalgamation of Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX. It mines the resources of the outer solar system using enhanced humans (“replicants”). They have Neuralink implants keeping them under the control of their evil overlord: MuskX.
- mrandish 3y agoInterestingly enough, there's already some idle speculation that the apparent variability of LK99 synthesis might be improved with zero-G manufacturing.
- samstave 3y agoPostulation : Can someone please take layers of graphene and pure gold leaf and tell me what that may result in, aside from beautiful "damascus"?