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Author Topic: What is the strongest/toughest material known to man?
Infinity007
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You wouldn't have to use something too spectacular for it to survive on earth for 1 million years. Dinosaur bones have a pretty good time of it and they're not extremely spectacular when it comes to materials.

Durability and corrosion resistance are the biggest worries with something thats got to last for a long amount of time on Earth but Earth isn't too harsh of an environment over the last million years ( nothing like when it was a burning ball of hot magma ).

So yeah. A nice thick steel box, maybe 1 inch steel on each side. If you want to be more sure, use a steel/titanium alloy. That settles the compression issue for the most part. As for corrosion, plate it in Gold. Gold or Platinum. If cost is no object these are the two best metals to plate something with in order to avoid any kind of corrosion. Make sure its air tight and you're good.

P.S.: Don't forget to line the inside with lead, you don't want that radiation getting out.

[This message has been edited by Infinity007 (edited January 21, 2006).]


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Survivor
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Bullet-proof clothing relies on tensile strength, for mechanical reasons that would be difficult to explain fully in a text only message.

Metals deform under relatively slight pressure, given enough time. They also corrode (with a few notable exceptions which do not include any of the stronger elements/alloys like steel and titanium). Carving the message on a hard mineral or ceramic would probably work, though, as long as you could be sure someone would find it at the right time. It would still be safer to put the message on the inside of a capsule rather than on the surface, though. A very hard material might survive pretty much intact, but the surface could still wear down enough to obliterate an inscription.


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