wrote on Mon, 10 Dec 2018 14:30:52 -0800
(PST):

d to do with the thermal protection
scheme for BFS/Starship. The nice thing about metal is that it conducts
heat better than a carbon fiber composite would. That might be an
advantage during reentry.

Heat capacity or thermal resilience is certainly an issue.
Another is the ability to use the tanks as a hull when
pressurized. Metal hulls can be possibly reduced in thickness
to compete with composites. At a certain point thermal
properties of metal may make metal superior.


Your remark is poppycock. While rocket boosters HAVE in the past been
produced as you suggest (it's called 'balloon tanks'), there's no way
to get a reusable booster out of such a design, much less a spaceship,
which is what we're talking about.


If Musk has only a fuselage material as the change then
my comment does not apply.


He included the tanks (more weight), but your comment above still does
not apply.


--
"Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar
territory."
--G. Behn