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Glass discs that can store 360TB and remain intact for billions of years (2016)

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Re: Glass discs that can store 360TB and remain intact for billions of years (2016)

#251

Post by notacoward »

dang wrote: post #245
notacoward wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> shorter expected lifespan Shorter claimed . FTFY. > Maybe you've got a mouse in your pocket? By "we" I meant not just two people but the dozens who have commented here. But you knew that. Let me know when you want to have a discussion instead of merely trolling.

Hey, please don't break the site guidelines by crossing into personal attack, no matter how provocative another comment may be or feel. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Nice to see you again, dang. Keep up the good work.

Re: Glass discs that can store 360TB and remain intact for billions of years (2016)

#252

Post by dekhn »

YayamiOmate wrote: post #18

I dunno, but it seems to me universities increasingly focus on press releases and marketing departments... 5D and 13.8 billion years? Phony. I know no sane scientist or enigneer that would say they use more than 3D physics. Sounds like catch phrases to sell. With such logic plain old HDD is at least 4D, because it uses CHS coordinates and magnetic orientation, to store data. To me such communication style undermines…

I work in Science (optical microscopy) and we use this sort of terminology for multidimensional data all the time. It's common in science.

Re: Glass discs that can store 360TB and remain intact for billions of years (2016)

#253

Post by kragen »

simonh wrote: post #249
kragen wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, 10–100 billion years is at 462 K, which is a lot hotter than room temperature. At room temperature the estimated lifespan (or, really, the time constant τ) is 3×10²⁰ years.

That's really great, precise information. Where did you get it from? Also which exact material is that for? As I said, there are a lot of different things called 'glass'.

From the paper: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ausra_Cerkauskaite2/pub...

They're using fused quartz, as one does. I'm guessing it would be a bit easier to use soda-lime glass, and also reasonably stable, but considerably less stable.

Re: Glass discs that can store 360TB and remain intact for billions of years (2016)

#255

Post by hilbert42 »

kragen wrote: post #235
hilbert42 wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Practicality wasn't the point. Publicity was." The real issues involved here are the Laws of Thermodynamics, Entropy and 'Glass' (Crystals) being the the most stable state of matter in the universe. All of these indicate that such longevity is possible (see my main post). Clearly, the reason that '13.8 Gy' is used here is that it's a well known time interval and it puts the longevity of this technology into perspect…

Glass is the opposite of crystals. Crystals would presumably be longer-lived, but their anisotropy makes them somewhat trickier to work with. Otherwise I agree, and like you, I'm profoundly disappointed by the level of "notacoward"'s comments in this thread so far.

You're right of course. I've assumed the stuff would necessarily be crystalline (and would have to be to have such longevity). The word 'glass' here being used for easier digestion by the public. (See my longer post for more details.)

Re: Glass discs that can store 360TB and remain intact for billions of years (2016)

#256

Post by nmstoker »

keiru wrote: post #138
nmstoker wrote: post #136

Looks like we need a bit more clarity on what they mean by "glass". If you look at glass in medieval glass windows it's heavily distorted by gravity (fatter at the bottom than the top) and that's after ~900 years, so presumably they're actually meaning something more robust than that!

Turned out it was a mistaken belief. Basically, thickness invariance in medieval glass had to do with the manufacturing process, and the viscosity of glass is not observable in a human timeline. https://ceramics.org/ceramic-tech-today/glass-viscosity-calc...

That's great - I hadn't heard about that, thanks for putting me right.
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