Quote:
Originally Posted by Quoth
"Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide"
Sapphire and diamond can both now be made synthetically at large sizes. The Star Trek technobabble was daft.
Sapphire was used from about 1700s as watch bearings and in the 1930s for autochanger record player stylus. Rubies and diamonds are also used in watches as bearings.
Auguste Verneuil invented the original process to make synthetic sapphire large enough for watch glasses in 1902.
Gorilla Glass also has aluminium in it and is a cheap alternative to sapphire for a phone screen outer layer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla_Glass
One of the main competitors is in fact synthetic sapphire. The materials are neither rare nor expensive.
A diamond screen is possible. I don't know if diamond or sapphire is more crack resistant. Diamond is the hardest (most scratch resistant) natural material and sapphire the next hardest natural material. Diamond is unusual because it feels cold like copper being a good heat conductor, but if pure it's an insulator. Beryllium oxide is used as a heat conductive electrical insulator inside RF power transistors because it cheaper.
Diamond is kept artificially expensive by De Beers, AKA Element 12 Company.
Wikipedia |
Ruby and Sapphire are both Corundum. If it is red it is Ruby. Any other color is Sapphire. Sapphire comes in any color except red. There are also color change Sapphires. If it is pink it is Sapphire, although people are always trying to pass off pink Sapphires as Rubies. Rubies command a much higher price than Sapphires. Starting in 1704 genuine gems were used in watches. Most being Ruby, Sapphire, Diamond and even Emerald. Ruby was preferred.
After Auguste Verneuil invented synthetic jewels in 1902 they began to be used instead of the genuine article. The reason the are used in watches is to reduces friction and wear. Today they are mostly used in mechanical watches and most people think watches with jewels are of a better quality. This has led to some manufacturers adding unnecessary jewels to raise the price of their watches. Also most watches use synthetic rubies, Very rarely do you see watches with synthetic Sapphires or other jewels.
Apache