Alex, The Ion Thruster, S.I.N, January

Three different types of electric plasma rockets, the ion thruster, the Hall Thruster, and the magnetoplasmadynamic (MPDT) were discussed, and the relative merit for each was compared in the article called New Dawn for Electric Rockets. Edgar Y. Choueiri wrote this article, published on the 58th page of the February 2009 issue of Scientific American. In the article, it is put forth that rockets designed with electric plasma engines (EPE’s) can attain a higher speed than conventionally powered rockets; they are more efficient at doing so. Furthermore, it is implicated that this makes them better for deep space and long-range missions.
A conventional (chemical) rocket burns nearly the entirety of available fuel in initial launch; final velocity is achieved closely after leaving the launch site where the magnitude of thrust is large. EPE rockets, on the other hand, have less thrust during launch, but it can maintain this thrust for a much longer time, which allows acceleration to last longer. Because of its high potential speed, the vehicle may be used in more operations. The electric power supply may even be recharged, although solar power generation is extremely inefficient anywhere beyond the approximate range of mars. Micro-thermonuclear power supplies could be constructed to generate additional energy.
The drive in current operation on many satellites is the ion thruster (whose precursor was patented as long ago as 1916); it is therefore the most relevant technology. The Ion Thruster is the simplest of the EPE devices, and its basic functioning is as follows. A neutral gas (usually Xenon) enters a chamber and is bombarded with electrons; this creates positive ions and causes the element to lose electrons. The electrons are introduced into a magnetically charged environment, and a neutralization device collects the ions. This charged environment accelerates them into an electrically charged net that further accelerates the particles out of the rocket. This type of EPE has exhaust speeds of ~20-50 kilometers per second (km/s), thrust (in a vacuum) of about 20-250 micronewtons (μN), and is approximately 60-80% efficient. Of the three types of EPE mentioned it is the most efficient, but provides the least thrust and has the slowest exhaust speeds.
The future of human societies depend on space travel, therefore any important advancement in this field allows future generations a place in the universe.

Alex, Possible Existance of Dark Matter, S.I.N, December

A balloon that is designed to detect energetic particles in the upper atmosphere of Antarctica has discovered that cosmic radiation is present in greater quantities than expected, says John Matson at sciam.com in a report of a new study published in Nature on November 19, 2008. The balloon caries what is termed an ATIC (for Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter), a device that is sensitive to the electrons in cosmic radiation. Because of the energy range particular to this type of cosmic radiation, and the quantity found, it is probable that the radiation stems from a nearby source.
The radiation found was in the 300-800 giga-electron-volt range. This type of energy can be emitted from a verity of sources, including pulsars, microquasars, and something called Kaluza-Klein particles. Based upon the quantities of radiation observed by the ATIC device it was supposed that the Kaluza-Klein particle was the culprit, although this cannot be determined for certain.
The Kaluza-Klein particle has been implicated as being a possible candidate for what is known as dark matter. The standard method of evaluating dark matter uses the gravitational effects it has on galaxies, instead the researchers tried to observe actual particle discharge, in the form of electrons and photons. What has been accomplished in this study is a new method of investigating dark matter, one that may change the course of this type of particle physics. This new method may lead us further on the path to discovering how the universe works.

Orion K. Mileage Increase, January SIN

Electronic Mileage Increase

Vehicle mileage could possibly be increased by up to 20 percent by an electric field, reports Charles Q. Choi, on the 42nd page of the December issue of Scientific American. A well documented effect of an electric field on liquids is to reduce viscosity. A reduction in fuel viscosity makes it so smaller droplets can be injected, allowing for more efficient, complete, combustion. The researchers, from Temple University, utilized this effect by modifying the fuel delivery system of a diesel engine, affixing an “electrically charged tube” to the fuel line just prior to the injectors. This setup was road tested, and the researchers found that the device used less than 0.1 watt, and increased fuel economy by 6 miles per gallon (MPG), from 32 MPG to 38 MPG.

This device has obvious benefits, such as increase profit margins for large businesses and greater fuel economy in personal vehicles, and can be diversified to most all types of internal combustion engines. However it does have detractions, such as greater dependency on oil, since there will be less incentive to invent new technology that does not use oil. I think that this will have short-term benefits, which outweigh the possible long-run detractor trouble.

Orion K. SIN, Quantum Computing, December

Using extremely low temperatures and extremely powerful magnetic fields, a multinational team of university researchers was able to read the quantum state of silicon atoms in a wafer. The team of researchers was also able to increase drastically the time span in which these atoms were stable. John Matson reported on this on November 19, 2008, at sciam.com, in an article titled Quantum Computing Advances a Qubit Closer to Reality.

The conventional processor uses bits, which can be either 0 or 1; the hypothetical quantum processor uses qubits, or quantum bits, which take the form of 0, 1, or both 0 and 1 simultaneously. This would greatly increase computing power.

In temperatures below -270 degrees Celsius (-450 degrees Fahrenheit, 3 Kevin), the researchers implanted a phosphorus atom into a silicon wafer, this adds a “free” electron (because phosphorus has charge 1-) that can be controlled and monitored. The researchers then used “millimeter-wave radiation” to change the spin while they examined the electrical current flowing through the wafer. This method is inaccurate, because it examines the qubits of “a few thousand” electrons, whereas to have a valid processor would have to examine only one electron at a time. This range, the researchers say, will be narrowed, now that the hurdle of reading the state has been passed.

A problem with using phosphorus occurs because the spin could only be maintained in the wafer for about two millionths of a second in previous experiments. A magnetic field 25 times stronger than any used in prior research, along with the cold temperatures, increased this time span 50 fold, making it slightly more feasible for use.

Though scientists are still quite far from reaching a usable quantum computer, this is another advancement toward the “holy grail” of computing.

Alex L., Fast Food Beef, S.I.N, November

It has been supposed that fast-food chains use mass-produced corn-fed cows for years; now proof of this has arrived, as David Biello reported on entitled That Burger You're Eating Is Mostly Corn. The study, preformed by A. Hope Jahren and Rebecca A. Kraft of the Department of Geology and Geophysics, and the The University of Hawaii, Honolulu, respectively, evaluated the amount of carbon 13 in the food tested.
This isotope of carbon is slightly heavier, because it has an extra neutron and is present in higher quantities in commercial corn then in most other plants. The findings have shown that 93% of the animal tissue in these foods are corn derived; based on find using a method to evaluate the amount of carbon 13 in the food. This was found in a statistically accurate survey of fast food servers. Only a dozen had hugely lower numbers, all of these were west coast Burger Kings, the researchers presume the levels were different because the meat was imported. The amount of isotopes found in chickens which are fed entirely on corn, varies less in chain-restaurants country wide, then it does in a single “farm-yard” chicken. This corn content may not matter to some but to all who care about their health, the environment’s health, or the world’s health might care greatly. The cows used in the factories that produce this food are fed on almost nothing but corn. This uses a great quantity of corn, which in turn uses a vast quantity of resources to create, and pesticides to. Not only this, but because they eat only corn when they are designed to eat a verity of different foods, this causes the cows to have to be over treated with antibiotics, which leads to more incurable diseases and poisons us.
It has been proven that corn is the primary food source for beef and chicken that is used in the fast-food industry. This leads to an overuse of corn that is detrimental to the environment, the cow’s health, and our health.

Nuclear Waste Disposal Lab

This lab modeled nuclear waste disposal containment methods by sealing a pellet of sodium hydroxide, a caustic base, with (1) aluminum foil (2) plastic wrap and (3) modeling clay. Each of these "contained" pellets was softly dropped into a weak solution of phenolphthalein, an indicator. This “nuclear waste” was let sit under observation for three days.

After this three-day period, it was noted that the aluminum foil had degraded. To the effect that it had released a great quantity of “radiation”. This expressed itself with a change in the color of the indicator solution, from clear to dark purple. The clay did not change, save for a slight release of bubbles. The plastic was held closed with a piece of wire, which quickly rusted, turning the solution a light brown color. If an extrapolation is made, the wire would rust through, leading to a release of “radiation”.

This experiment was designed well. I found the experiment to be exemplary of the difficulty associated with containment. The use of an indicator solution to show leakage was an ingenuous way to visually express the idea of radiation.

Orion K, SIN, Silicon Spintronics, November

Silicon Spintronics

Researchers have taken the first step towards a new technology that could possibly make computers produce less heat and use less electricity. This technology controls electron spin in silicon, which is the first advance in making silicon spin-based computer processors. This was reported by J.R. Minkel on sciam.com, in an article titled Spintronics Breaks the Silicon Barrier.

The researchers used aluminum electrons pushed through a ferromagnet to obtain electrons of the desired spin, which were then pushed into the silicon. Spin is a quantum property used to classify electrons; it is either up or down (also called clockwise or counterclockwise). Aluminum has equal parts spin-up and spin-down electrons. The ferromagnet will allow only electrons of one spin through; it impedes the flow of those electrons of the opposite spin.

The ferromagnet increased the percentage of one spin type in the silicon by one. However, this was done at 85 Kelvin. In theory this spintronics device should function at room temperature, this has not been tested though. To operate, a functional spintronics device would require a uni-spin substance.

These processors would be capable of using a small portion of the electricity used by contemporary, charge-based silicon processors; moreover, a spin-based processor would produce far less waste heat. This means that your laptop’s battery would last longer, because (1) the processor does not need as much energy and (2) the computer would need less cooling, which takes a large percent of battery life. Moreover, the computer could be smaller because a smaller fan could be used.