Posted on 04/03/2004 10:19:15 AM PST by demlosers
Edited on 04/29/2004 2:04:08 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
An experiment originally designed to fly on the International Space Station led a team of researchers to develop a completely new type of glass, a material formed while floating in mid-air in a NASA laboratory on Earth.
Using static electrical fields to levitate the material, scientists were able to construct a pure glass, free of any contamination typically associated with containers. It could serve as the centerpiece for new medical and industrial lasers, as well as have broadband Internet applications.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Yet another reason we don't need a $100 billion money pit orbiting the earth. Time to burn it up.
Shucks. And here I was hoping for a breakthrough in the glass golf ball and pineapple markets.
Many common materials such as water, wood, plants, animals, diamonds, fingers, etc. are usually considered to be non-magnetic but in fact, they are very weakly diamagnetic. Diamagnets repel, and are repelled by a strong magnetic field. The electrons in a diamagnetic material rearrange their orbits slightly creating small persistent currents which oppose the external magnetic field. Two of the strongest diamagnetic materials are graphite and bismuth.
The forces created by diamagnetism are extremely weak, millions of times smaller than the forces between magnets and such common ferromagnetic materials as iron. However, in certain carefully arranged situations, the influence of diamagnetic materials can produce startling effects such as levitation.
It was proved in 1842 that it is impossible to stably levitate any static array of magnets by any arrangement of fixed magnets and gravity. However, the addition of diamagnetic materials makes such levitation possible. The July 22 Nature paper, Magnetic Levitation at your fingertips, describes two configurations where diamagnetic materials are used to stabilize the levitation of a magnet in the field of a fixed lifting magnet.
It is surprising at first to see the frog and the top suspended in midair, in apparent defiance of gravity. They are supported by the force of magnetism. For the frog, the force comes from an electromagnet (coil of wire in which a current is flowing); for the top, the source is a magnetized metal slab. These powerful magnets push upwards on the frog and the top, because they are magnets too (weak ones). The magnetic force exactly balances gravity, so the top and the frog are in equilibrium and can float - there is no net force on them. A slight difference is that the top is intrinsically magnetized - it is a permanent magnet - while the frog is intrinsically non-magnetic but becomes magnetized by the field of the electromagnet this is induced diamagnetism. Most substances are diamagnetic, and Andrey was able to levitate a variety of objects, including drops of water and hazelnuts.
Magnetically levitated (MAGLEV) trains are considered as a future application of HTS development. . .The idea of MAGLEV transportation has been around since the early 1900s. The benefit of eliminating the wheel/rail friction to obtain higher speeds and lower maintenance costs has great appeal. The basic idea of a MAGLEV train is to levitate it with magnetic fields so there is no physical contact between the train and the rails (guideways).
[SNIP]
To find out the rest of the story, we refer you to the following Web sites:
general overview of MAGLEV systems
Maybe they meant to say "billions and billions times smaller" :)
Transparent Aluminum... Light and extremely strong....
LOL! "Billions and billions of cups of coffee. . ." :) Good luck with surviving your 12-hour shift--I don't envy you having to do that the day we switch to Daylight Savings!
Here ya go :)
Would you rather give that $100 billion to single mothers? 'Cuz that's where it will go otherwise.
Those are your choices: A space program or more single mothers.
;-)
LOL! Here's some more good sources of bad ideas:
Robert E. Iannini, Build Your Own Laser, Phaser, Ion Ray Gun and Other Working Space Age Projects
Robert E. Iannini, Build Your Own Working Fiberoptic Infrared and Laser Space-Age Projects
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