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Archive for the ‘physics’ category: Page 192

Jul 10, 2019

SpaceX Scores NASA Contract to Launch Black Hole Spacecraft

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics, space travel

“We cannot directly image what’s going on near objects like black holes and neutron stars, but studying the polarization of X-rays emitted from their surrounding environments reveals the physics of these enigmatic objects,” Paul Hertz, director of NASA’s astrophysics division, said in a statement at the time. The project, he said, “will open a new window on the universe for astronomers to peer through.”

A preliminary launch date is set for April 2021 on a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A in Florida. It’s unlikely it will take up the full payload of the rocket, as SpaceNews.com points out.

READ MORE: SpaceX contracted by NASA to launch black hole and neutron star research craft [TechCrunch].

Jul 9, 2019

Has metallic hydrogen been made at long last?

Posted by in category: physics

Physicists in France claim convincing evidence for the elusive transition.

Jul 8, 2019

The Magnetohydrodynamic Drive Is Real—and You Can Build One

Posted by in categories: entertainment, physics

I know it’s an old movie (and it was an even older book before that), but I want to look at the physics of the special submarine drive in The Hunt for Red October. In the story, the Russians build a so-called “caterpillar drive” using hydro-magneto power instead of the traditional propeller. This new drive is way quieter than the traditional type—so quiet that it could sneak up on the United States and blow it up. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t.

Here is the cool part: This magnetohydrodynamic drive, which turns water into a sort of rotor, is a real thing. (Although technically in the book version this drive is something other than magnetohydrodynamic. Quibbles.) In fact, it’s pretty simple to build. All you really need is a battery, a magnet, and some wires. Oh, also this will have to operate in salt water, so you might need some salt. Here is the basic setup.

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Jul 8, 2019

Tiny granules can help bring clean and abundant fusion power to Earth

Posted by in categories: computing, physics, space travel

Beryllium, a hard, silvery metal long used in X-ray machines and spacecraft, is finding a new role in the quest to bring the power that drives the sun and stars to Earth. Beryllium is one of the two main materials used for the wall in ITER, a multinational fusion facility under construction in France to demonstrate the practicality of fusion power. Now, physicists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and General Atomics have concluded that injecting tiny beryllium pellets into ITER could help stabilize the plasma that fuels fusion reactions.

Experiments and computer simulations found that the injected granules help create conditions in the that could trigger small eruptions called edge-localized modes (ELMs). If triggered frequently enough, the tiny ELMs prevent giant eruptions that could halt fusion reactions and damage the ITER facility.

Scientists around the world are seeking to replicate fusion on Earth for a virtually inexhaustible supply of power to generate electricity. The process involves plasma, a very hot soup of free-floating electrons and , or ions. The merging of the nuclei releases a tremendous amount of energy.

Jul 7, 2019

Fermi Paradox: First Contact with Alien Syntellects in Extra Dimensions is More Than a Possibility

Posted by in categories: alien life, existential risks, physics

I used to think that we live in some sort of a “cosmic jungle”, so the Zoo Hypothesis (like Star Trek Prime Directive) should be the correct explanation to the Fermi Paradox, right? I wouldn’t completely rule out this hypothesis insofar as a theorist Michio Kaku allegorically compares our earthly civilization to an “anthill” next to the “ten-lane superhighway” of a galactic-type civilization. Over time, however, I’ve come to realize that the physics of information holds the key to the solution of the Fermi Paradox — indications are we most likely live in a “syntellect chrysalis” instead of a “cosmic jungle.”

Just like a tiny mustard seed in the soil, we’ll get to grow out of the soil, see “the light of the day” and network by roots and pollen with others, at the cosmic level of emergent complexity — as a civilizational superorganism endowed with its own advanced extradimensional consciousness. So, one day our Syntellect, might “wake up” as some kind of a newborn baby of the intergalactic family (or multiversal family, for that matter – that remains to be seen) within the newly perceived reality framework. Call it the Chrysalis Conjecture, if you’d like.*.

Jul 1, 2019

Has the speed of propagation of a magnetic force field been measured? If so what is it?

Posted by in categories: physics, space

Ask the experts your physics and astronomy questions, read answer archive, and more.

Jul 1, 2019

Physics: Plasma-Jet-Driven Magneto-Inertial Fusion (PJMIF)

Posted by in category: physics

Professor Y. C. Francis Thio and Dr. F. Douglas Witherspoon of HyperJet Fusion Corporation, USA share their expert views on physics, with a focus on Plasma-Jet-Driven Magneto-Inertial Fusion (PJMIF)

Jun 27, 2019

Lightning bolt underwater

Posted by in categories: climatology, engineering, physics

Electrochemical cells help recycle CO2. However, the catalytic surfaces get worn down in the process. Researchers at the Collaborative Research Centre 1316 “Transient atmospheric plasmas: from plasmas to liquids to solids” at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) are exploring how they might be regenerated at the push of a button using extreme plasmas in water. In a first, they deployed optical spectroscopy and modelling to analyse such underwater plasmas in detail, which exist only for a few nanoseconds, and to theoretically describe the conditions during plasma ignition. They published their report in the journal Plasma Sources Science and Technology on 4 June 2019.

Plasmas are ionised gases: they are formed when a gas is energised that then contains free electrons. In nature, plasmas occur inside stars or take the shape of polar lights on Earth. In engineering, plasmas are utilised for example to generate light in fluorescent lamps, or to manufacture new materials in the field of microelectronics. “Typically, plasmas are generated in the gas phase, for example in the air or in noble gases,” explains Katharina Grosse from the Institute for Experimental Physics II at RUB.

Jun 26, 2019

Incredible Observation Links Two Different Radioactive Phenomena Inside a Thunderstorm

Posted by in categories: climatology, physics

Scientists in Japan reported seeing two radioactive weather phenomena at the same time, for the first time, according to a new paper. The observation establishes a link between the two, adding to our knowledge of the wild physics that takes place inside thunderstorms.

The researchers reported the “unequivocal simultaneous detection” of a minute-long “gamma-ray glow” followed by a powerful, millisecond-long “terrestrial gamma-ray flash,” or TGF. Though scientists have observed these two events before, they don’t quite understand the connection between—the glows and flashes have never been observed together. That is, until now.

Jun 25, 2019

Time Will End in Five Billion Years, Physicists Predict

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

The universe will cease to exist around the same time our sun is slated to die, according to new predictions based on the multiverse theory.