What natural object is better than any man-made replica?
The sheet.
Any man-made blade will remain inferior to the quintessential natural blade: obsidian.
Obsidian is a volcanic glass, which is formed by the rapid cooling of lava. A piece of broken obsidian has very sharp edges, capable of cutting human flesh with almost no pressure, for this reason thousands of years ago it was used as a "scalpel".
In ancient times it was much sought after to build blades or weapons, because obsidian is sharper than any man-made blade. Even today, with the most advanced technologies possible, it is not possible to reproduce a sharper object. If you don't believe it, check out this stunning photo:
Left a piece of obsidian, right a... scalpel. Yes, the one used by the best surgeons in the world, created with very high precision instruments. As you can see, the scalpel looks like a crude, poorly worked piece of metal compared to obsidian, whose "blade" edge is atomically subtle.
I once read somewhere that cutting obsidian is so precise and clean that it is painless. You only realize you have been injured when you see blood flowing from the wound.
Then why don't we make blades for surgeons out of obsidian if it has such a much better cutting surface? Jusk asking.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to know the answer to that?
ReplyDeleteFound the answer:
ReplyDeleteThe problem with obsidian is that it only has a hardness of 5.5 (about the same as window glass) and has very little tensile strength as opposed to steel, so the blades cannot be very big and cannot hold up well against harder materials.
Generally, steel is more than good enough to get the job done AND it holds up a lot better. Rarely is such a fine edge absolutely necessary, so obsidian fulfills a more specialist niche in small surgical blades, while obviously steel can be used for everything from tiny razors and knives to swords.