Word: titanium
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Mountain bikes, also known as all-terrain bikes (ATBs), borrow sophisticated metal alloys, titanium lugs, carbon-fiber tubing and other materials from the aerospace industry for lightweight strength. Average weight: 28 lbs., vs. 20 lbs. for a far more fragile touring bike. Perhaps most important, ATBs feature flat handlebars for upright seating and thick tires that take to sand and gravel as easily as to pavement. While these features have practical appeal for rough-riding wilderness cyclists, the changes also take the hassle out of bike riding for ordinary pedal pushers who never stray more than a mile...
...this enterprise is that no one -- not even the Soviets -- seems to know how much it costs. The government sets prices arbitrarily, so they bear no relation to the actual market value of the planes, tanks and missiles produced. The weapons programs were measured by input: so much steel, titanium and manpower. "The Defense Ministry simply ordered up weapons," says Abraham Becker, a senior Soviet specialist at the Rand Corp., "and the Ministry of Finance paid the bill. Finance didn't know whether the weapons were needed, and Defense didn't know whether they were worth the cost...
...parent with a child in tow, bicycle frames undergo incredible stress, especially where the hollow tubular pieces are joined. For decades, engineers struggled to strengthen frames while making them lighter. That task seemed impossible until manufacturers turned to materials used for jet fighters and missiles. Frames constructed of aluminum, titanium, carbon fiber and various metal combinations have proved to be stronger, stiffer, more shock absorbent and lighter than steel ones. The popular Kestrel frames from Cycle Composites, based in Watsonville, Calif., are made of molded carbon fiber. One-piece and aerodynamically designed, they are stronger...
There is no certainty that commercially valuable deposits of minerals exist. Surface rocks contain traces of iron, titanium, low-grade gold, tin, molybdenum, coal, copper and zinc. Gaseous hydrocarbons, sometimes associated with oil, have been found in bottom samples taken from the Ross Sea. But in most cases, says geologist Robert Rutford, president of the University of Texas at Dallas, who did research in Antarctica for more than 20 years, "minerals are less than 1% of the total rock sample analyzed." Moreover, the vicious Antarctic climate would make exploration dangerous and expensive...