🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <5663@buengc.BU.EDU> bph@buengc.bu.edu (Blair P. Houghton) writes:
>In article <13085@ucsd.Edu> brian@ucsd.edu (Brian Kantor) writes:
>>consider that the product was costed at about $1,000 of raw material and
>>$5,000 of electricity each, you know it's a lot of power.
>>
>>We're talking 3-inch cylinders of pure ruby or sapphire, about 15
>>inches long, BTW.
>
>Um, excuse me, but I'll buy the $5k in energy cost, but
>there isn't any way you're going to convince me that the
>"raw materials" for 106 cubic inches of solid ruby or
>sapphire are going to cost $1000.  I'd still be leery if
>you said $1000000, but it's a little closer to the
>ballpark.
>
>Perhaps you included the materials for the processing, but not
>the actual minerals, eh?
 

A 15" long 3" diameter sapphire rod is about 7 kilograms of alpha-aluminum 
oxide. 99.9+% aluminum oxide from Aesar is about $73.00 a kilo or 
$511.00 dollars for the raw materials. If you want to make ruby add another
$100.00 or less for ultrapure chromium oxide. Now melt it in an electric
furnace and slowly pull out a seed crystal, and then you have spent $5000.00
on electricity and you have a very large sapphire rod.

	Jeff