Writing chemical equations and calculating molarity concentrations, I often find chemistry classes at school boring. Staring at the screen for hours without having any laboratory experiments, we as students are dozing off more often during online lessons. However, this lecture was captivating and has reminded me of how fascinating chemistry can be as well as exposed me to a special material, metallic glass, which has not been taught at school.
Plastic is cheap but it bends easily and although steel is strong, it cannot be frozen into different intricate shapes, which limits the potential use of that metal. Their complementary disadvantages have forced scientists to come up with a material that can solve both problems, and that is metallic glass. The reasons and advantages for having metallic glass were introduced in the lecture. Secondly, I have also learnt the process of supercooling and acquired knowledge beyond the school curriculum, such as the fact that there is a minimum size for ice to form. Thirdly, having taught the history and method of making metallic glass and the applications of metallic glass in people’s daily lives, I have further understood what metallic glass is and how it can be used. I have found this fascinating. In the lecture, I remembered a photo of marbles packed randomly inside a glass bottle was shown to demonstrate the structure of metallic glass, which really made me understand easily and clearly.
Furthermore, the Alaskan wood frog was also mentioned in the lecture. The way Alaskan wood frogs freeze themselves in winter and come back to life in spring all on their own has astonished me as well as made me think of the future possibility for humans to undergo the same process in order to preserve lives. To conclude, this lecture has really broadened my knowledge.
The lecture has inspired me to further research metallic glass. There are various benefits of using metallic glass being mentioned on the internet as well as in the lecture. For example, metallic glasses are extremely strong, hard, and resistant to wear and corrosion, which makes them good potential candidates for engineering uses and medical uses such as surgical pins. From my point of view, despite these advantages, metallic glass is still in its infancy. In other words, more investigation and experiments are needed. Not to mention that metallic glass does cost a lot. I personally think that metallic glass has its disadvantages.
Nonetheless, experts have stated that there is potential for the metallic glass to be used in future aerospace and military materials. I am not trying to ban the advantages of metallic glass but instead, I am hoping to see more studies and discoveries to be revealed in the future. I will look forward to the development of metallic glass from now on.