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Archive for the ‘energy’ category: Page 27

Apr 2, 2020

Real-Life Laser Rifle: Army Goal

Posted by in categories: business, energy, military

The Army is looking at its Plasma Acoustic Shield System as a checkpoint defender, for now. But the original idea – and the long-term goal of the project – is to have it be the first baby step towards a portable, lethal laser weapon.

Pelt2The effort, by the U.S. Army’s Advanced Energy Armaments Systems Division and Stellar Photonics, has a lot in common with another military laser project: the Pulsed Energy Projectile being developed by Mission Systems for the Marines. But there are three key differences. The current PEP is a big (450 lb) chemical laser with a limited number of shots, whereas PASS is a small solid-state laser that just needs electricity. The PEP creates plasma by vaporising the outer layer surface it hits (such as your shirt), whereas PASS can create plasma in mid-air by focusing to a point. And PEP fires a single pulse, whereas PASS uses a double pulse which Stellar claim is far more efficient at creating a shockwave.

You can get some idea from the Small Business Initiative Proposal the company submitted in ‘04 for a “Man-portable Integrated Laser Assault Rifle”:

Mar 31, 2020

Study determines burst properties of the most recurring transient magnetar

Posted by in categories: energy, space

Using NASA’s Fermi and Swift spacecraft, astronomers have investigated SGR J1935+2154, the most recurring transient magnetar known to date. The new research sheds more light on the burst properties of this object. The study is detailed in a paper published March 23 on the arXiv pre-print repository.

Magnetars are with extremely , more than 1 quadrillion times stronger than the magnetic field of Earth. Decay of magnetic fields in magnetars powers the emission of high-energy electromagnetic radiation, for instance, in the form of X-rays or radio waves.

Discovered in 2014, SGR J1935+2154 has a spin period of 3.24 seconds, spin-down rate of 14.3 picoseconds/second, and a dipole-magnetic field with a strength at a level of approximately 220 trillion G, what confirms its nature. Since its detection, the source experienced more than 100 bursts, occurring almost annually.

Mar 31, 2020

Animal that doesn’t need oxygen to survive discovered

Posted by in category: energy

All animals rely on oxygen at least at some stage of their life, but a parasite that infects fish seems to have completely lost the ability to use it – where it gets its energy from is still a mystery.

Mar 27, 2020

NEWS FROM SOFIC: Special Operators Wearing Ultralight Version of ‘Iron Man’ Suit

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, energy

Photo: EPNAC

TAMPA, Fla. — When Special Operations Command set out to create what would be popularly known as the ‘Iron Man suit’ seven years ago, developers assumed that the state-of-the-art in body armor would not improve much over the next few years.

That assumption led the command down a development path that would actually make the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit resemble the comic book hero with heavy armor from head to toe and a power system and exoskeleton needed to help the operator move in the bulky suit.

Continue reading “NEWS FROM SOFIC: Special Operators Wearing Ultralight Version of ‘Iron Man’ Suit” »

Mar 27, 2020

How Metamaterials Could Lead to Invisible Tanks and Super-Stealthy Submarines

Posted by in categories: energy, military

Circa 2019


The development of new so-called metamaterials could lead to dramatic advances in military technology, particularly the ability to hide from sensors—even the human eye. Metamaterials, engineered composites designed to manipulate the electromagnetic spectrum, could lead to “invisible” tanks and armored vehicles, submarines undetectable by sonar, and weapons with improved seekers and guidance systems.

The big caveat though is that metamaterials are currently pretty difficult to manufacture and are still years away from full-scale production.

Continue reading “How Metamaterials Could Lead to Invisible Tanks and Super-Stealthy Submarines” »

Mar 27, 2020

The Thorium Car Runs For 100 Years With Only 8 Grams Of Fuel and Emission-Free

Posted by in categories: energy, transportation

The amazing car pictured is a theoretical concept car that would run for 100 years with only 8 grams of fuel. Such a car would be powered by thorium, one of the densest materials on our planet.

Mar 24, 2020

Visibility of the amplitude (Higgs) mode in condensed matter

Posted by in categories: energy, quantum physics

The amplitude mode is a ubiquitous collective excitation in condensed-matter systems with broken continuous symmetry. It is expected in antiferromagnets, short coherence length superconductors, charge density waves, and lattice Bose condensates. Its detection is a valuable test of the corresponding field theory, and its mass gap measures the proximity to a quantum critical point. However, since the amplitude mode can decay into low-energy Goldstone modes, its experimental visibility has been questioned. Here we show that the visibility depends on the symmetry of the measured susceptibility. The longitudinal susceptibility diverges at low frequency as Im χ σ σ ∼ ω − 1 (d = 2) or log (1 / | ω |) (d = 3), which can completely obscure the amplitude peak. In contrast, the scalar susceptibility is suppressed by four extra powers of frequency, exposing the amplitude peak throughout the ordered phase. We discuss experimental setups for measuring the scalar susceptibility. The conductivity of the O (2 ) theory (relativistic superfluid) is a scalar response and therefore exhibits suppressed absorption below the Higgs mass threshold, σ ∼ ω 2 d + 1. In layered, short coherence length superconductors, (relevant, e.g., to cuprates) this threshold is raised by the interlayer plasma frequency.

Mar 23, 2020

China’s supersonic submarine, which could go from Shanghai to San Francisco in 100 minutes, creeps ever closer to reality

Posted by in categories: energy, military

O.,o circa 2014.


Researchers in China are reporting that they’ve taken a big step towards creating a supersonic submarine. This technology, which could just as easily be applied to weaponized torpedoes as military or civilian submarines, could theoretically get from Shanghai to San Francisco — about 6,000 miles — in just 100 minutes. If all this doesn’t sound crazy enough, get this: This new advance by the Chinese is based on supercavitation, which was originally developed by the Soviets in the ’60s, during the Cold War.

As you may already know, it’s a lot harder for an object to move quickly through water than air. This is mostly due to increased drag. Without getting into the complexities of fluid dynamics, water is simply much thicker and more viscous than air — and as a result it requires a lot more energy for an object to push through it. You can experience the increased drag of water yourself next time you’re in a swimming pool: Raise your hand above your head, and then let it fall towards the water. (Or alternatively, if there are people sunbathing nearby, do a belly flop.)

Continue reading “China’s supersonic submarine, which could go from Shanghai to San Francisco in 100 minutes, creeps ever closer to reality” »

Mar 20, 2020

A cyclic phosphate-based electrolyte for safe and high voltage lithium-ion batteries

Posted by in categories: energy, internet, sustainability

In light of the ongoing shift toward renewable energy technologies and the growing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, researchers worldwide have been trying to develop batteries that can operate more efficiently and for longer periods of time. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are currently the preferred energy-storage technology for portable electronics, as they contain organic electrolytes, which typically enable high operating voltages and energy densities.

Despite their widespread use, further increasing the performance of existing LIBs could have a significant impact on their safety. In fact, these batteries contain highly volatile and flammable organic carbonates, which, if ignited, can cause considerable damage.

In recent years, researchers have made significant efforts toward overcoming these safety issues, for instance, by using additional substances or by optimizing the materials separating battery components. While some of these strategies successfully reduced the risk of the battery catching fire, as long as LIBs are made with highly flammable electrolytes, accidents may still occur.

Mar 19, 2020

If Americans used bidets fifteen million trees could be saved

Posted by in categories: energy, transportation

Justin Thomas considers bidets to be “a key green technology” because they eliminate the use of toilet paper. According to his analysis, Americans use 36.5 billion rolls of toilet paper every year, representing the pulping of some 15 million trees. Says Thomas: “This also involves 473,587,500,000 gallons of water to produce the paper and 253,000 tons of chlorine for bleaching.” He adds that manufacturing requires about 17.3 terawatts of electricity annually and that significant amounts of energy and materials are used in packaging and in transportation to retail outlets.

That’s a lot of water, far more than is actually used by the bidet itself.

toto toiletLloyd Alter/ toto toilet with washlet/CC BY 2.0

Continue reading “If Americans used bidets fifteen million trees could be saved” »

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