Odds and ends

[Mark]

I was watching this old post again and started to wonder if you could heat a jam-jar-shaped vessel to red heat and puff in/introduce a quick charge of "cold" outside air to start up an air piston effect, jam jarring or snorkeling without internal combustion. Be the first on your block. Maybe living above the Arctic Circle would be an advantage/better for a hot/cold contrast. ha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyPxNNJQo9M

A few other devices that are on "either side" of this energy level.
On the weak side ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBblqoVKO4w or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv0ulNLRkWM
I wonder too if a red hot vessel might possibly make that little humming sound like when a little dome of fire sits on top of a jam jar that has been previously run, where the alcohol flame won't advance into the jar because most of the good air is spent. It makes that characteristic tone.

And on the strong side refer to Tharratt's article on the proposed running of a pulsejet by heat injection/electric discharge via nuclear energy. Here's a cousin of the idea, a nuclear ramjet. Scroll down to the 3rd picture.
http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/info_ ... r_1950.htm
I recall another ramjet experiment where they filled a quarter mile of pipeline with compressed helium and discharged this gas over some superheated steel or ceramic spheres that mimicked supersonic airflow over a radioactive surface area/heat source.
Or I suppose this Lightcraft vehicle might be considered a kind of heat injected pulsejet with a very short exhaust tube. Certainly you could run a small jam jar on that amount of energy. ha
http://www.lightcrafttechnologies.com/technology.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtH-SxqdtaA

[Mark]

I came across this today. I don't know if it has been posted before. Just more tidbits.
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD ... tTRDoc.pdf

[Mark]

Resonant tidbits/crumbs to nibble on. ha
Physicists trap light in a bottle
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/200 ... bottle.ars

Yet another write-up. I wonder if they make one in a snorkeler? ha
"Similar to the motion of a charged particle stored in a magnetic bottle, i.e., a particular spatially varying magnetic field, the light oscillates back and forth along the fiber between two turning points. For this reason, this novel type of microresonator realized by the physicists in Mainz is referred to as a bottle resonator. Tuning the bottle resonator to a specific optical frequency can be accomplished by simply pulling both ends of the supporting glass fiber. The resulting mechanical tension changes the refractive index of the glass, so that depending on the tension, the round-trip of the light is lengthened or shortened."
"In doing so, the light cannot escape along the fibre because the diameter of the fibre reduces on either side of the structure."
http://www.scimag.com/news-ds-Physicist ... 73109.aspx

[Mark]

"Inside Ceramatec's wonder battery is a chunk of solid sodium metal mated to a sulphur compound by an extraordinary, paper-thin ceramic membrane. The membrane conducts ions -- electrically charged particles -- back and forth to generate a current. The company calculates that the battery will cram 20 to 40 kilowatt hours of energy into a package about the size of a refrigerator, and operate below 90 degrees C."

"Ceramatec says its new generation of battery would deliver a continuous flow of 5 kilowatts of electricity over four hours, with 3,650 daily discharge/recharge cycles over 10 years. With the batteries expected to sell in the neighborhood of $2,000, that translates to less than 3 cents per kilowatt hour over the battery's life. Conventional power from the grid typically costs in the neighborhood of 8 cents per kilowatt hour."

"Re-read that last paragraph and let the information really sink in. Five kilowatts over four hours -- how much is that? Imagine your trash compactor, food processor, vacuum cleaner, stereo, sewing machine, one surface unit of an electric range and thirty-three 60-watt light bulbs all running nonstop for four hours each day before the house battery runs out. That's a pretty exciting place to live."
And then you recharge. With a projected 3,650 discharge/recharge cycles -- one per day for a decade -- you leave the next-best battery in the dust. Deep-cycling lead/acid batteries like the ones used in RVs are only good for a few hundred cycles, so they're kaput in a year or so."

"The ceramic that made this possible was dubbed NaSICON by chemists. That stands for "sodium super ion conductor" -- "Na" being the code name for sodium in chemistry's periodic table."
Ceramatec's formulation is a trade secret. With trademark modesty, A.J. observes, "We feel confident it's a good material."
"It's a miracle material," corrects Grover Coors. He's the great-grandson of Adolph Coors, the brewmaster-industrialist who started all this. Grover has a Ph.D and specializes in solid-state ionics and advanced materials. He's working with Ceramatec as a sort of research fellow to evaluate technologies and advise senior management. A.J. stayed on as president after the sale to CoorsTek."
http://www.heraldextra.com/news/article ... 002e0.html

[Mark]

Galway discovery ahead of the world
"Speculation then began that if N5- could be tamed and combined with N5+, the result would be a stable solid that could deliver twice the punch of the same volume of hydrazine, the nitrogen-rich fuel that propels many spacecraft today."
"Butler’s group has considered the potential uses of this tricky molecule. “Although it is possible that N5+ combined with N5- could be a rocket fuel, it would be extremely difficult technically to produce and store large quantities of N5- anion. It is also likely to be highly uneconomical. However one never knows what human ingenuity may achieve,” Butler says.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sci ... 68391.html

[Mark]

Curious glue strength.
"STEP ONE (mixing the glue)
NOTE: Only one type of glue will work for this process. It is a low grade, dry, animal hide glue with an approximate 165 gram strength and designated as glass chipping glue. High strength hide cabinet glues or gilder rabbit skin glues are very elastic and will not work. Neither do white or yellow wood working glues."
http://www.theletterheads.com/glawson/gluechip.html

"The glue should be left to dry at it's own rate, do not hurry, uneven curing may result in a poor chip pattern. Then it is time for the Secondary Drying and Chipping Stage. This is when the glue actually starts to peel or chip. The glue shrinks considerably during the total drying process. As it shrinks, it grips into the pores caused by the sandblasting and literally RIPS the top of the glass off."
"This indirect heat will cause a rapid evaporation of moisture leading to curling of the glue and the chipping of the glass surface. The glass is under EXTREME stress at this point and (if necessary) should be handled very carefully. On sunny days the glass can be set in direct sunlight. This is the easiest way to get the glue to chip the glass. The chips of glue can pop off with some force, take appropriate precautions, i.e. safety glasses.
After all the glass is chipped some glue may still be left on the glass. Since the glue is water soluble, you can soak the glass with warm water and scrape off the softened glue.
If you wish a Double Chip effect. Simply repeat the steps after sandblasting. The already-chipped surface will provide enough adhesion for the glue. A note of caution here. The glue/glass shards left from the chipping process can create a big problem if not cleaned up. Because the glue is basically an animal byproduct, Dogs & Cats love to eat this stuff. This can cause your pet extreme harm and even DEATH! PLEASE BE CAREFUL."
http://www.glassmart.com/gluechip_tutorial.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGhFsPDDcEs
http://www.etchmaster.com/Merchant2/mer ... ES/CTGY/GK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRJmTLtJes0

[Mark]

The biggest hurdle to overcome for an inner-city commuter taxi is noise - UK-based Jetpod developer Avcen's silencing technologies for the jet engines are the key to the Jetpod. The company claims that it will not be heard above the routine noise of street traffic.
http://www.gizmag.com/go/3695/

“There was a loud explosion when it crashed and firemen who were at the scene managed to put out the blaze,” said Halim.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?fi ... sec=nation

[Mark]

World’s smallest laser unveiled
"The world's smallest laser, contained in a silica sphere just 44 nanometres across, has been unveiled. At about 10 times smaller than the wavelength of light, however, this is no ordinary laser, it is the first ever 'spaser'."
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090816/ ... s=news_rss

[Mark]

Video: Sony's $10k Sountina glass speaker gets a production nod
http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/28/sony ... ction-nod/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYw7y_8_9To
http://www.engadget.com/photos/sonys-so ... f/1008068/
http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/30/sony ... s-sort-of/

[Mark]

The LED's Dark Secret
Solid-state lighting won't supplant the lightbulb until it can overcome the mysterious malady known as "droop"
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/semiconduc ... ark-secret

[Mark]

How refreshing.
M.I.T. Calls Academia's Bluff
"The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has begun the most revolutionary experiment in the history of education, stretching all the way back to the pharaohs. It now gives away its curriculum to anyone smart enough to learn it. It has posted its curriculum on-line for free. These days, this means a staggering 1900 courses. This number will grow."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north748.html

[Mark]

Tiny Five-Stroke Engine Promises Big Fuel Economy
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/08/fi ... ke-engine/

[Mark]

Seems like a good shape to try, kind of a Marconett look vaguely.
http://cgi.ebay.com/26oz-Stainless-Stee ... 286.c0.m14

[vturbine]

How refreshing.
M.I.T. Calls Academia's Bluff
"The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has begun the most revolutionary experiment in the history of education, stretching all the way back to the pharaohs. It now gives away its curriculum to anyone smart enough to learn it. It has posted its curriculum on-line for free. These days, this means a staggering 1900 courses. This number will grow."
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north748.html

Sorry, but this is merely a course listing online. Not the course itself.

I followed the links to Combustion Technology, and was shown a map of where the lecture hall was in Cambridge.

Wooohoo

[Mark]

Some of these might be of interest if you fish about.
“mit lectures” results 1 - 20 of about 968
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... type=&aq=f

I remember posting this one some time back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ahWs9YTJkc

Here looks like a full course on a topic, in handy 50 minute increments, for the most part. ha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9iB2PAL ... L&index=30

Or just click on one of these videos from the MIT site. You can also read along with what he is saying, the lectures are in print below the videos.
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Physics/8-02E ... /index.htm