Metals

Definitions:

Alloy:  1. degree of mixture between metals
             2. material made by combining materials (usually metals)

Ferrous:  1. containing or relating to iron

Non-Ferrous:     1. Not containing or relating to iron


Iron:     An abundant metal believed to make up much of the the Earth's mantle and core. Defined by carbon content. (low carbon - "wrought", high carbon - "cast", between .2% and  2% carbon - "steel")

Steel:   Iron with carbon content between .2% and 2%. The higher the carbon the harder the steel, reducing ductility and increasing oxidization/ corrosion tendency.

Aluminum Alloy:    A combination of raw Aluminum extracted from Bauxite and recycled bauxite. Conductive, non-toxic, light-weight metal.

Magnesium Alloys:    Very expensive due to energy intensive extraction. Combination of Magnesium and metals like Aluminum, Silicon, and zinc, depending on application.

Titanium Alloys:    Very expensive alloys used in applications requiring high strength to weight ratios and good corrosion resistance.

Zinc Alloys:   Typically have a low melting point, making them useful in casting small or intricate parts. Usually plated with other metals for aesthetic affect.

Copper Alloys:    Ductile, conductive, easy to form with low melting point. Forms patina with chemical exposure or age which can have aesthetic and protective properties.

Nickel Alloys:   Good corrosion and oxidization resistance with bright surface. Makes for good plating material.

Lead and Tin Alloys:   Very soft metals, traditionally used in casting and forming.

Precious Metals:      Gold, Silver, Platinum etc. Highly resistant to corrosion and oxidization, highly conductive of heat and electricity and non-toxic. Rare, and therefore expensive.

Electric Wasteland response

     I like to consider myself to be somewhat knowledgeable about the environmental effects we have on the world, or at least that I am not totally ignorant to the major problems, but "Electric Wasteland" dropped a couple bombs I was totally unaware of. I know that the U.S. is a very large, consumerist economy that imports a lot of cheap goods from countries where the workers are paid less and not treated well. It is a sad reality that in we effectively displace our inconvenience onto less fortunate countries so that we can continue to have products cheap enough to buy with abandon. What I did not realize is how thoroughly we take advantage of this system in the case of electronics. Not only do we outsource manufacturing of environmentally hazardous products, but we also outsource the electric trash that so inevitably comes with the newest shiny technology.
     The waste from our consumer electronics contains many toxic chemicals and heavy metals like lead, cadmium, sulfur, and mercury, but I assumed this was waste we got rid of ourselves. Or at the very least we piled up the consequences of our consumption on our own land. I was very wrong. While it is technically illegal to transport the toxic consumer electronic waste out of the country, there is a huge black market for exporting the undesirable waste to the undesirables of the world. Even major recycling companies which claim specifically to be extra carefully with waste like cathode ray tubes have been found to be illegally transporting waste via shipping freight shipping containers to to small toxic trash villages in rural China that slowly dismantle and pile up our waste, poisoning the surrounding air, water, and soil as well as ruining the health of the poor workers controlled by local gangs. Aside from the obvious ecological destruction caused from our unrestrained consumption we are taking advantage of poorer societies around the world, essentially to save a few bucks.

3 sustainable options:

Material science is booming, and while toxic heavy metals may be the cheapest materials to use in the mass production of circuit boards and other electronic components there are surely alternative options for the trace materials that make up the most dangerous parts of the electronic components.

There is a growing industry in E-waste removal and recycling, that could benefit from automation for safer deconstruction processes. Safe, legal, efficient E-waste removal could surely be profitable and potentially even subsidized by the government.

BUY LESS CRAP, GET RID OF IT IN RESPONSIBLE WAYS, USE CONSUMER VOICE TO DEMAND LESS DANGEROUS PRODUCTS.

Design Thinking movie

     I'm a documentary buff, so this format is usually pretty easy for me to swallow but I was especially interested in how they tackled the idea of design thinking. I've heard the term defined many times, usually in a kind of cliche "no bad ideas" "think outside the box" type of way but this film took an interesting view point. Essentially the argument seemed to be that design thinking is a way of encouraging productive methods for problem solving in any given situation. Design thinking then becomes less of a set of rules to stay outside the normal realm of reasoning, and instead a person centered approach moving towards understanding the systems in which people work, and providing for creative collaboration within those systems. The examples of design thinking illustrated through the community cooking class and the design consulting firm were very different and for good reason. To try to apply a single definitive approach for encouraging open communication and creative thought to both of these situations would result in neither being as effective as possible.
      This is not to say that no to say there are no commonalities between the design thinking tactics. Generally the themes of quick iteration, equal voice for all parties, open minded collection of data are embraced. The design thinking movement primarily seems to be a growing acceptance of tactics that are out of the social norms, and this divergence creates opportunities for a wider range of participants in these systems. With a greater range of participants comes a greater propensity for social, idealogical, and innovative change.