Since I’m a compulsive organizer, I have figured out how to categorize my curiosity. One of the categories is Race Man, which I do in my Human Race Man substack. My main interest is of course how to use a hybridized Stoic to deal with the funky ignorant cliff that American society seems bent on jumping off. But here in Tessellations, my interest is in cultivating in a Post-Cold-War world, the kind of scientific mindset that set me apart from the normies of the 70s. So this is the appropriate place for Brain Spew.
Our first entry today comes right from the top of my discovering mind. Today I rediscovered The Backyard Scientist and I found out an amazing property of gallium. Once upon a time, Gallium arsenide was thought to be the next generation of silicon for computer chips and all that. Well, it’s still silicon, and more on that later. But it turns out that gallium is a great structural poison for aluminum. Check this out:
Yeah so that’s not where my mind went. It went here:
Gallium introduced to fuel or lubrication supplies would be hellaciously catastrophic to the entire production, supply, transport, and consumption chain. Delivery by drone is straightforward, but mortars or cluster weapons delivering molten gallium or gallium shot would be particularly effective. Aluminum parts which cannot be painted, such as telescoping parts, shock absorbers, or suspension struts-- for example, aircraft landing gear-- are particularly vulnerable to this attack. The ideal employment location on aircraft, however, are the wing roots.
For ground vehicles, attacks against radiators with shotgun shells loaded with a mixture of buckshot and gallium will be exceptionally effective, virtually guaranteeing that the radiator cannot be patched, and that replacing it will merely delay failures of other aluminum parts in the cooling system (possibly including the engine block for some vehicles). Even a few pellets will do the job.
Digging a little deeper, I found this nugget at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Increasing demand for gallium in critical industries has raised the stakes for securing a steady supply of the mineral. A sudden gallium supply shock would have consequences for defense manufacturers and broader economic security. A 2022 analysis by experts from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) found that a 30 percent supply disruption of gallium could cause a $602 billion decline in U.S. economic output, or 2.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).[14]
The cascading impacts on industrial production could cause major setbacks to the manufacturing of key defense systems. Although defense manufacturers account for only a small share of the global end use of gallium, shortages and disruptions in the supply of semiconductors and other key electronics can pose long-term challenges for defense firms.[15] Many of the U.S. military’s key suppliers of GaN chips also rely on revenue from substantial sales to civilian customers. Interruptions to their commercial operations may complicate their ability to meet the defense industry’s growing need for gallium-based systems.
That’s some really good information. I’m making note of that source. And this also gets into my Geopolitics category.
As for the fate of silicon in chip fabrication, it turns out that Intel is doing some very interesting things. I’m long in the chip sector, but I’m leaving NVIDIA alone. I’m very happy to be long on AMD, INTC and TSM. Three’s company four’s a crowd, at least in my investment portfolio. Plus, I’m getting back into Berkshire Hathaway anyhow.
The fact that a new chip fab is being built in Ohio is why I’m long on Intel, but this video really helped me think about the company.
So there’s some brain spew for today.