Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Magnesium iPod? PowerMacs at WWDC?

Difference between Aluminum and Magnesium

Magnesium is much more durable material than Aluminum with not much of weight difference. If you want to see how durable magnesium is, check out the premium sunglasses that are made by Oakley, they're a company that harnesses the power of Titanium and Magnesium. Any of their frames that have magnesium added to the recipe is significantly lighter than its counterpart that doesn't contain it. They're also less prone to scratches

So I'm guessing they're aiming for a lighter iPod, scratch-resistant, and a more durable shell than the iPod Nano.

Magnesium is only highly flammable if its put under an extreme heat, i.e - the blue cone of the flame using a bunsen burner, and thats if its pure magnesium and not tainted with a mixture of another element.


Hope this sheds a little more light on the beauty of magnesium
 
They should choose to make it out of a metal that has a hardness rating higher than common metals found in coins and car keys. Does anybody know if magnesium is particularly hard to scratch? Seriously, it's not that out of the realm of possibility to have an iPod made out of a scratch-resistant material.\

EDIT: argh villanova, beat me.

And honest to god, they should make the iPods waterproof, how hard would that be? Seriously? Put a single gasket around where the metal back meets the frontplate and some other small adjustments?
 
I wonder if the new MacBook Pros will be using it, if yes then can I give it the official nickname of MagBook Pro ® :D
 
Magnesium would be cool, but I thought it was more expensive than aluminum...strange. I'm probably wrong though.

I remember lighting thermite with strips of Mg in chemistry class. No iPod is going to burst into flames though, because the material will certainly have to be an alloy or at least coated.
 
Mr. Mister said:
Maybe the guy is a dumb bunny and in fact it's the Mac Pros that are to be magnesium. :eek:
Click to expand...

A distinct possibility--Wu is not the brightest bulb of the bunch. If the Mac Pro does have a Mg case, that would certainly set it apart from just about everything else I've seen.

One of the things I love about Apple products: you don't want to hide them under your desk. ;)
 
Many professional cameras use magnesium alloys for their chassis, makes for a very light but amazingly strong frame that will not burn any more than aluminum :)
 
WIKI:

Elemental magnesium is a fairly strong, silvery-white, light-weight metal (two thirds the density of aluminium). It slightly tarnishes when exposed to air, although unlike the alkaline metals, storage in an oxygen free environment is unnecessary. Like its lower periodic table group neighbor calcium, magnesium reacts with water at room temperature, though it reacts much more slowly than calcium. When it is submerged in water hydrogen bubbles will almost unnoticably begin to form on the surface of the metal, though if powdered it will react much more rapidly. The reaction will occur faster with higher temperatures (see precautions). Magnesium is a highly flammable metal, but while it is easy to ignite when powdered or shaved into thin strips, it is difficult to ignite in mass or bulk. Once ignited it is difficult to extinguish, being able to burn in both nitrogen (forming magnesium nitride), and carbon dioxide (forming magnesium oxide and carbon).
Magnesium, when it burns in air, produces a brilliant white light. This was used in the early days of photography when magnesium powder was used as a source of illumination (flash powder). Later, magnesium ribbon was used in electrically ignited flash bulbs. Magnesium powder is still used in the manufacture of fireworks and marine flares where a brilliant white light is required.
Magnesium, when glowing white, has many chemical properties that it does not possess at lower temperatures. It also becomes more toxic, although this is irrelevant because the high temperature alone is extremely dangerous.
Magnesium compounds are typically white crystals. Most are soluble in water, providing the sour-tasting magnesion ion Mg2+. Small amounts of dissolved magnesium ion contributes to the tartness and taste of natural waters. Magnesium ion in large amounts is an ionic laxitive, and magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts) is sometimes used for this purpose. So-called "milk of magnesia" is a water suspension of one of the few insoluble magnesium compounds, magnesium hydroxide; the undissolved particles give rise to its appearance and name. Milk of magnesia is a mild base, and is commonly used as an antacid.
 
galstaph said:
Magneium is can be had for $16 USD/Metric Tonne
Click to expand...

I like to see a reference for this one...the last I saw, magnesium was around $2000/MT. It was big news a few months ago when magnesium prices barely dipped below those for aluminum...I don't know the current prices, but there's no way Mg is going for $16/MT.

Edit: Just checked...Mg is trading for about 1.90 USD/kg.
 
Magnesium is seldom used in its' pure form. It is almost always used as an alloy (mixed with other metals). It can be very brittle, or even soft, depending on how the alloy is crafted. If you have ever seen a picture of an airplane landing and the wheel is on fire, airplane wheel components are often made with magnesium. Magnesium fires are very dangerous to put out. Directly spraying water on burning magnesium usually will result in an explosion. However, starting fire to magnesium is much harder than some here have suggested.

As for cost, magnesium is more expensive than commercial grade aluminum. However, it is a very good metal to CAST. So, you can cast a part in magnesium that requires very little finish machining, as opposed to other material that are formed by bending sheet metal, or machining it from solid stock.

Finally, phosphorous is a magnesium product, or a very similar substance (do not remember exactly) which we are all familiar with. It is used in sparklers, road flares, smoke bombs (grenades), etc. It is unusual in that it produces its’ own oxygen when burning. That is why it can be immersed in water and still burn. The heat is too extreme for the water to cool it and the water cannot smother it because it does not require air.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought when I was in chemistry class in high school that we learned that magnesium and water have an explosive reaction -- if you thought lawsuits about earbuds conducting electricity when you get hit by lightning were bad, wait until several thousand people catch fire while listening to their iPod in the rain.
 
freiheit said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought when I was in chemistry class in high school that we learned that magnesium and water have an explosive reaction -- if you thought lawsuits about earbuds conducting electricity when you get hit by lightning were bad, wait until several thousand people catch fire while listening to their iPod in the rain.
Click to expand...

Nevermind. I just saw a few posts on this very subject. :p
 
freiheit said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought when I was in chemistry class in high school that we learned that magnesium and water have an explosive reaction -- if you thought lawsuits about earbuds conducting electricity when you get hit by lightning were bad, wait until several thousand people catch fire while listening to their iPod in the rain.
Click to expand...

No...you are wrong, magnesium and water wouldn't have an explosive reaction, that's the Sodium(Na), Potassium(K) and others metal below these in the periodic table.

Although magnesium will have reaction will water, but it will product hydrogen and itself will become Magnesium Hydroxide.
 
Who gives a damn if Magnesium burns? Some prestigeous car cockpits are made of brushed magnesium and they look gorgeous. Pretty much everything burns when powedered. And pure metals are very unelikely to be used, alloys are much better suited for any metal cases as they are even more durable. And if your current iPod did not yet spontaniously catch fire, an iPod in a magnesium case would not have either. Do you really hold your iPod over a bunsen burner on a regular basis? I would understand if they planned to make them out of Sodium. :D

I can't wait for Apple to replace the crappy plastic case by metal ones. Portable devices such as mp3-players, laptops, phones etc. should not be made of cheap scratchy plastic in my opinion. It's frustrating how my shuffle scratched within a few days of usage. But it's actually cool the shuffle has no display, I can trow it around without fearing to break anything.

If not metal, make the iPods like the black Macbooks. I torture mine and don't have a single scratch. Actually, there was one at the bottom once but I can't find it anymore. It's cursed I think...
 
MrCrowbar said:
Who gives a damn if Magnesium burns? Some prestigeous car cockpits are made of brushed magnesium and they look gorgeous. Pretty much everything burns when powedered. And pure metals are very unelikely to be used, alloys are much better suited for any metal cases as they are even more durable. And if your current iPod did not yet spontaniously catch fire, an iPod in a magnesium case would not have either. Do you really hold your iPod over a bunsen burner on a regular basis? I would understand if they planned to make them out of Sodium. :D

I can't wait for Apple to replace the crappy plastic case by metal ones. Portable devices such as mp3-players, laptops, phones etc. should not be made of cheap scratchy plastic in my opinion. It's frustrating how my shuffle scratched within a few days of usage. But it's actually cool the shuffle has no display, I can trow it around without fearing to break anything.

If not metal, make the iPods like the black Macbooks. I torture mine and don't have a single scratch. Actually, there was one at the bottom once but I can't find it anymore. It's cursed I think...
Click to expand...

I agree. I recently went to Asia for two weeks and I took my mini over my video, not just because the mini came with a charger, but it's better made. My video iPod scratched the first day I had it!
 
iMacZealot said:
I agree. I recently went to Asia for two weeks and I took my mini over my video, not just because the mini came with a charger, but it's better made. My video iPod scratched the first day I had it!
Click to expand...

I don't know about you people, but my 60GB white 5G is still looking great, only very lightly scratched on the front, and even more imperceptibly scratched on the back (you can see those scratches only under certain lighting conditions). Do you know in which case do I carry it? An iPod sock. That's right, I carry it in my right pocket, next to my bulky wallet, almost daily, since early December, and it's still looking great (actually, the sock even helps to clean the natural body grease smudges from the iPod's back plate, so every time I take it out, it just looks, well, shiny). The fact that I carry my keys in my left pocket, along with my ancient Siemens cell phone (which I hand-painted with my ex-girlfriend's black nail varnish coz' its faceplates sucked so badly, and, incidentally, still looks very shiny on most of its surface and "rugged" in the crappiest sense of the word), may explain its near-pristine condition... :rolleyes:

Anyway, I guess I must be one lucky bastard, since the only time I dropped it, luckily it was inside the sock and fell flat on its front face, on the floor, and the HD wasn't spinning. Whew! Also, last night I was holding it with no sock whatsoever while thinking to myself, "I must lay it down before falling asleep, otherwise I may drop it", and woke up in the morning still holding it. You could say that you'd have to pry it out of my warm, living hands. :D

Oh, well, I wouldn't mind if Apple used more resistant materials, though. I'm always telling people to be very careful when even *touching* my iPod, I always pick the best spot where to lay it down when not in use, I never let it come into direct contact with any surface other than the sock or a soft cloth, etc. I certainly wouldn't mind not having to be so anal retentive about scratches... :p
 
Just the throw my 2cents worth, I had a portable Minidisc recorder that had a Magnesium front and an Aluminium back and in the years I had it, the Magnesium front didn't scratch one bit while the aluminium backing scratched quite easily but overall it was very light.

I hope Apple does use Magnesium in their products as it certainly won't dent or scratch as easily as Aluminium they use in the MBP/PB and its much lighter than the stainless in the iPod backs.
 
galstaph said:
Aluminium is around 2.50 USD/Kg
Magneium is can be had for $16 USD/Metric Tonne
magnesium is definetly cheaper:eek:
Hurray for the magpod

on the other hand... maybe apple is using the magnesium for a real super computer;)
Click to expand...

Damn, I didn't know they were already planning to build quantumcomputers (I know it's of topic) Good times ahead (but software developers can start again from scratch:) )
 
Plastic burns too. I don't see anyone worrying about their current plastic iPods catching on fire.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back