Everyday we are getting closer to fusion power. Today an article on MSNBC tells about a new experiment that they believe will finally achieve fusion. http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/01/28/2187974.aspx
Problem with this method is that how to capture and use the energy. It probably never will be able to, but it is a good method for learning about atoms and atomic physics. Farther down in the article it tells about 4 other methods that are being tested.
The most known what is ITER, http://www.iter.org/default.aspx. This method uses a big donut shaped device to produce plasma and shape it into a narrow band. This produces heat which heats water into steam and turns generators.
Another is the LDX at MIT. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35126008/ns/technology_and_science-science/
This is similar to the ITER project but defers in the way the plasma is shaped.
Another is the project run by Emc2 Fusion. http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/06/12/1136887.aspx
This to me sounds like another one for experimenting and not actual energy production.
One project that uses a combination of the first one and normal fission (found nuclear power plants), problem is the waste. https://lasers.llnl.gov/about/missions/energy_for_the_future/life/how_life_works.php
Showing posts with label Tech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tech. Show all posts
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Wireless Power
No, not power for wireless devices, but actual power without wires. Believe it or not a majority of energy around us everyday is wireless. We just can't harness it and use it to power our devices that need it. Sound, light and radio waves along with all the other frequencies of the energy spectrum are all energy in some form that we use in different ways. Being able to harness it so it can be more useful to us is the key.
A company called WiTricity has developed a way to transfer energy using magnetic fields and sending it from source to destination at a certain frequency wave. Their goal was to get more power to travel longer distances. With energy waves, the shorter the frequency the shorter the distance and speed it travels, hence the reason you see the lightning before the thunder, light waves move faster and you might see it but not hear anything if it is really far off.
WiTricity's goal is to have devices without power cables, a device would plug into the outlet and transmit the energy to the TV, Laptop, cell phones (mainly for charging) that has a receiver for the wireless energy which then converts the magnetic waves back to energy it can use. They claim that it will not add much to the cost of devices. One of the biggest advantages I could see is on laptops, both my wife and I have one and while mine can run for 11 hours in low energy mode, hers lasts less than an hour so if we take it outside or somewhere else in the house we have to unhook the power cord and plug it in where ever we are going to be. This would definitely be helpful.
WiTricity claims it is safe and that the magnetic waves are very similar to the earth's magnetic field. Of course the earth's magnetic field mainly emanates from the poles and at lower latitudes it really doesn't affect us. Magnetic fields is one of the possibilities that male fertility is dropping since all powered devices give off electro-magnetic fields. So hopefully they test this before releasing it on the public.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/02/wireless.electricity/index.html
A company called WiTricity has developed a way to transfer energy using magnetic fields and sending it from source to destination at a certain frequency wave. Their goal was to get more power to travel longer distances. With energy waves, the shorter the frequency the shorter the distance and speed it travels, hence the reason you see the lightning before the thunder, light waves move faster and you might see it but not hear anything if it is really far off.
WiTricity's goal is to have devices without power cables, a device would plug into the outlet and transmit the energy to the TV, Laptop, cell phones (mainly for charging) that has a receiver for the wireless energy which then converts the magnetic waves back to energy it can use. They claim that it will not add much to the cost of devices. One of the biggest advantages I could see is on laptops, both my wife and I have one and while mine can run for 11 hours in low energy mode, hers lasts less than an hour so if we take it outside or somewhere else in the house we have to unhook the power cord and plug it in where ever we are going to be. This would definitely be helpful.
WiTricity claims it is safe and that the magnetic waves are very similar to the earth's magnetic field. Of course the earth's magnetic field mainly emanates from the poles and at lower latitudes it really doesn't affect us. Magnetic fields is one of the possibilities that male fertility is dropping since all powered devices give off electro-magnetic fields. So hopefully they test this before releasing it on the public.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/02/wireless.electricity/index.html
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Stellarium
Have you ever wanted a good astronomy application and didn't want to pay a lot of money?
Stellarium is what you want. Go to http://www.stellarium.org/ to download it. It is free and a great program. The other day when we were camping I was pretty sure the bright object in the sky to the south west was Jupiter, but wasn't for sure. Last night I checked it out on Stellarium and sure enough it is. I also couldn't find the little dipper or Polaris (the North star). I know 2 of the stars in the big dipper pointed to it, but wasn't sure which ones. With Stellarium I found that it was the 2 stars on the end of the dipper that point north to Polaris which is part of the little dipper. But because of the light of the city, it is hard to see.
It might run slow on a low end system, so it might not be for everyone. But just so you know, it does run on Windows 7.
Stellarium is what you want. Go to http://www.stellarium.org/ to download it. It is free and a great program. The other day when we were camping I was pretty sure the bright object in the sky to the south west was Jupiter, but wasn't for sure. Last night I checked it out on Stellarium and sure enough it is. I also couldn't find the little dipper or Polaris (the North star). I know 2 of the stars in the big dipper pointed to it, but wasn't sure which ones. With Stellarium I found that it was the 2 stars on the end of the dipper that point north to Polaris which is part of the little dipper. But because of the light of the city, it is hard to see.
It might run slow on a low end system, so it might not be for everyone. But just so you know, it does run on Windows 7.
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