If you've ever
wondered what a razor blade looks like magnified 500 times, this is it. I was
having it analyzed to see if there was any surface chemistry that would make it
a good detector for radio waves. This is a WWII era "blue" blade.
Despite popular folklore to the contrary, there was no selenium present. SEM image
by Houston Electron Microscopy, Inc.
Here's the same
blade at 75x.
The iron oxide is
likely magnetite, which can act as a semiconductor. It is a thin enough layer
that it allows some light to pass through, causing thin-film interference,
similar to the surface of a soap bubble. This accounts for the subtle blue
color of the blade.
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