Tech Science

[LightEye]

dear friends,

this is cool.

http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/200...kaye_effec.php

be well, be love.

david

a cool movie of the kaye effect

i came across this while looking through the referrals to gm/bm. this is an incredibly cool video of a strange phenomenon called the kaye effect. it includes high speed video of the effect, and a demonstration of their mathematical analysis of the effect, and their prediction and verification of the effect.

the kaye effect is an incredibly bizarre phenomenon. basically, if you take a substance like liquid shampoo, and allow a thin stream of it to pour down from a height onto a smooth surface, the stream will periodically "bounce", producing a stream leaping up from the point of contact. watch it - it's seriously cool.

[Larry Seyer]

i just love technology when it works...

juicing up your cell phone or ipod may take on a whole new meaning in the future. researchers at saint louis university have developed a fuel cell battery that runs on virtually any sugar source - from soft drinks to tree sap - and has the potential to operate three to four times longer on a single charge than conventional lithium ion batteries, they say.

http://www.slu.edu/x14605.xml

enjoy!

larry

[LightEye]

dear friends,

there's that pesky tetrahexahedral again... ;-)

http://www.physorg.com/news97422618.html

be well, be love.

david

platinum nanocrystals boost catalytic activity for fuel oxidation, hydrogen production

(a) low-magnification sem image of a platinum tetrahexahedral nanocrystal and its geometrical model. (b) high-resolution transmission electron microscopy image recorded from a platinum tetrahexahedral nanocrystal to reveal surface atomic steps in the areas made of (210) and (310) sub-facets. credit: zhong lin wang

a research team composed of electrochemists and materials scientists from two continents has produced a new form of the industrially-important metal platinum: 24-facet nanocrystals whose catalytic activity per unit area can be as much as four times higher than existing commercial platinum catalysts.

the new platinum nanocrystals, whose "tetrahexahedral" structure had not previously been reported in the metal, could improve the efficiency of chemical processes such as those used to catalyze fuel oxidation and produce hydrogen for fuel cells.

"if we are going to have a hydrogen economy, we will need better catalysts," said zhong lin wang, a regents professor in the school of materials science and engineering at the georgia institute of technology. "this new shape for platinum catalyst nanoparticles greatly improves their activity. this work also demonstrates a new method for producing metallic nanocrystals with high-energy surfaces."

the new nanocrystals, produced electrochemically from platinum nanospheres on a carbon substrate, remain stable at high temperatures. their sizes can be controlled by varying the number of cycles of "square wave" electrical potential applied to them.

[Larry Seyer]

what's interesting about this material is that it reminds me of the roswell aluminum foil that would 'remember' it's shape and not crease.

http://phunk.co.za/content/view/125/1/

obviously this is created by us humans, but it's interesting that we've even thought about making this stuff.

wonder where the original idea came from?

enjoy!

larry

[One 66]

a good post, and i agree with you on your comments.

[soup]

it reminds me of mylar, another semi transparent film that also conducts electricity.

[LightEye]

dear friends,

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1397

be well, be love.

david

internet is spherical with a dense core
tuesday, 19 june 2007by hamish clarke
cosmos online

sydney: the internet is not web-shaped after all. instead, it's more more like a globe, made up of a dense core and sparsely connected outer regions, according to a mathematical analysis of its structure.

analysing the shape, or 'topology' of the internet may seem like an esoteric activity, but according to software engineers led by yuval shavitt, from tel-aviv university in israel, it has practical implications.

"a better understanding of the internet's structure is important in many ways," said shavitt. "we can track the internet's evolution in time and generate predictive models to its growth [which will] help us understand how the internet will look a few years from now so we can plan ahead."

the findings are published this week in the u.s. journal proceedings of the national academy of sciences.

[Jacob]

hi folks,

http://environment.newscientist.com/...ck-to-oil.html

"a company is taking plastics recycling to another level – turning them back into the oil they were made from, and gas.

"a machine that uses 1200 different frequencies within the microwave range, which act on specific hydrocarbon materials. as the material is zapped at the appropriate wavelength, part of the hydrocarbons that make up the plastic and rubber in the material are broken down into diesel oil and combustible gas."

with love,

jake

[charran]

very interesting post. takes the message of recycling to a greater level.

charran

[LightEye]

dear friends,

http://blog.hasslberger.com/2007/06/...ower_plan.html

be well, be love.

david

water vortex drives power plant

in a fairly radical departure from the principles that normally govern hydroelectric power generation, austrian engineer franz zotlöterer has constructed a low-head power plant that makes use of the kinetic energy inherent in an artificially induced vortex. the water's vortex energy is collected by a slow moving, large-surface water wheel, making the power station transparent to fish - there are no large pressure differences built up, as happens in normal turbines.

the aspect of the power plant reminds a bit of an upside-down snail - through a large, straight inlet the water enters tangentially into a round basin, forming a powerful vortex, which finds its outlet at the center bottom of the shallow basin. the turbine does not work on pressure differential but on the dynamic force of the vortex. not only does this power plant produce a useful output of electricity, it also aerates the water in a gentle way. indeed, the inventor was looking for an efficient way to aerate the water of a small stream as he hit upon this smart idea of a plant that not only gives air to the medium but also takes from it some of the kinetic energy that is always inherent in a stream.