Re: [ATM] A Big Challange

[Ken Lowther <hermit@outofoptions.org>]

Quoting Jeremy Batterson <jdbaterson@msn.com>:

> Richard,
> YOUR REWARD IS YOUR SUCCESS:
> I offer you the following challenge:
> Can you or anyone else, seriously figure out an insightful means to 
> produce a large mirror blank at a fraction of the cost of buying one 
> from Corning, etc. This can be:
> 1) Some new type of material, plastic, ceramic, metal,  table top, or 
> whatever.
> 2) Some new type of holding cell, so that a thin piece of glass, far 
> thinner than the norm is used.
> 3) A means to produce a large glass blank by melting. Here you would 
> have to figure out some way to minimize annealing.
> The idea is simple: the typical atm would love to build a 24 or 30 
> inch primary, but few can cough up 5 or 10 grand for a glass blank.
> Instead of a lot of know it all chatter, why don't we actually do 
> something useful, and figure this out, putting to use all the talents 
> and knowledge available. What are the detailed procedures and 
> suggestions?
>

If I had the $XK to do the research I wouldn't need to do it. ;-)

Perhaps Peter Chen has discouraged us since he has the funding?  There 
may be minds on this list capable of solving this riddle.  Mine isn't 
among them. I can stumble along a well tread path and that is about it.

Physics can be a bitch.  Come up with a different material and you may 
find aluminum runs off of it like water off of the old duck back. Why 
aluminum?  I have always found it interesting that electricity flows so 
well through silver and aluminum, but the visible spectrum bounces off 
of it pretty completely.  We are stuck using atoms or very small 
molecules for coating unless you can get larger molecules to form a 
stable lattice of some sort where the surface deviation would be low.  
If the mirror is large enough you could accept more loss, but then the 
ladder gets taller unless you introduce more surfaces and lose more 
light.....

sigh.  If this is an exercise left for the student, then I get 
something like an F--.

Ken, who is headed back to kindergarten, AGAIN!

PS.  Yes, we all hope that there is some simple, elegant solution that 
has been overlooked because of our set ways.  But, I am old and set and 
not much I can do about that.

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