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Two companies have announced their plans to make Blu-Ray digital
video disks, which would be largely made from paper. Experts claimed
these disks would be less harmful to the environment and less expensive
to manufacture.
Features of the Blu-Ray disks:
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A blue laser will be used to store information as opposed to
a regular red one.
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The smaller size of the wavelength would allow greater amounts
of information to be accessed from this type of disk.
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Data will be stored in the shape of small ridges on the surface
of an opaque 1.1-millimetre-thick substrate, which lies under
a transparent 0.1 mm protective layer.
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Normally made from a polycarbonate plastic, the Blu-Ray disc
will be made with a combination of paper and another polymer.
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The cost for the paper for the prototype will be 51 cents,
however would provide the capacity to store up to 25 gigabytes
of data, compared to DVDs that provide half of this capacity.
Experts claimed that since oil is considered a resource difficult
to come by, the decrease in the amount of raw material needed to
produce a disk would be a valuable initial advantage. Easy disposal
has been cited as another benefit of the Blu-Ray disk. Experts stated
that because they are made of paper, simply using a pair of scissors
would do the trick for disposal.
New
Scientist April 16, 2004
USA
Today April 18, 2004
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