Future/near Future technologies

[NeOmega]

Can anybody give a brief description of the theroies behind:

*Thermodynamic Energy and/or Skutterudites?

*Why Plasma is considered a fourth element
got it thanks

*The process behind making false gems (ie simulated rubies and emeralds) Speculation is allowed on this one, since as far as I know it is an industry secret
somebody said using explosives, but I saw a high pressure crucible being used in a Nova documentary or something

*How Americium works in a smoke detector
thank you

*speculation on what dark matter is

*neutrinos, and if they are in any way controllable, capturable, detectable.

90 tons of gallium (2 or 3 years of world production) is used to detect solar neutrinos by the use of the reaction: nu + 71Ga > 71Ge + e-. The rate, although very low (less than 1 interaction per day in 30 tonnes of Ga) makes gallium unique for this purpose. Two experiments are running : - GALLEX using 30 tons in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (Italy) and SAGE with 60 tons in the Baksan laboratory in Caucasus (Russia).

*laser cooling and the processes involved in bringing material to very near 0 Kelvins

*"sponge" alloys... (are these like the solid/gas solutions, such as the platinum solution used in catalytic converters?) EDIT: Also I just saw a disk on CNN used to absorb hydrogen, and then release it when heated (I assume it's heated)

*permanent magnets..... such as the samarium cobalt magnet

*Fission vs Fusion..... and cold fusion
got it, thank you

*What "doped" means in chemistry terms

EDIT:
Also
What is the theory behind ion engines?

What is a quantum computer?

I took AP Chemistry in High School, but that was 7 years ago, so I am a little rusty... but I can probably follow you if you give a synopsis of what you read in Popular Science..... Thanks.

Thats about it for now.....

[Asher]

Quantum computing would be cool too. My circuit design prof did 1 bonus lecture on it, but I'd like to know more...

[Propaganda]

Maybe a central mind control system run by Communists? I can only hope.

[Richard Bruns]

If you are interested in science news, I recommend going to newscientist.com to read about what is happening. sciencedaily.com is also good. For your specific points, a net search will give you better information than we can.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by NeOmega
*Why Plasma is considered a fourth element

Not a forth element but the forth state of matter (solid, liquid, gas, plama, etc.)

Originally posted by NeOmega
*neutrinos, and if they are in any way controllable, capturable, detectable.

Certainly they have been detected.

Originally posted by NeOmega
*Fission vs Fusion..... and cold fusion

Fission is the splitting of very heavy atoms into smaller ones and releasing energy according to the Einsteinian equation E=mc². Fusion is the merging of very light atoms into heavier ones, releasing energy in the process. Fusion is considered better because it is clean (no nasty radioactive wastes) and has a greater output. It also helps that hydrogen is everywhere and there is no need to go through the hoops just to purify it.

Cold fusion is considered bunk by many.

Originally posted by NeOmega
*What "doped" means in chemistry terms

Adding impurities. Very useful for semiconductors.

[Combat Ingrid]

Originally posted by NeOmega
*The process behind making false gems (ie simulated rubies and emeralds) Speculation is allowed on this one, since as far as I know it is an industry secret

I don't know about rubies etc, but I know you can make diamonds by using high explosives

You take a tube with graphite powder and put some high explosive compound at each end of the tube. When you detonate it, the high pressure combined with the high temperature squeezes together the carbon atoms to form the tougher diamond configuration. I suppose you can also give them various colors by adding small amounts of impurities, I have no idea what they might be, though.

[NeOmega]

Originally posted by Richard Bruns
If you are interested in science news, I recommend going to newscientist.com to read about what is happening. sciencedaily.com is also good. For your specific points, a net search will give you better information than we can.

thanks I'll check tem out tomorrow... must sleep, need for sleep beating thirst for knowledge.......

[monolith94]

plasma is super-heated gas - if I understand correctly, a state of matter that has both qualities of air and liquid...
And it's really, really, really hot.
There are five states of matter, by the way. Urban Ranger forgot about absolute zero matter - when it's so cold that the atoms have stopped vibrating altogether.

[Urban Ranger]

There are many states for matter and more are being discovered. For example, neutron star matter is considered a state, even though it is a degenerate state where the matter is composed entirely of neutrons. Then there is the Bose-Einstein condensate, which is even more exotic.

Plasma is indeed super-heated gas - gas that has been heated to such a state that all atoms become ions.

[el freako]

Am I correct in thinking that Bose-Einstein Condensate is 'officially' considered the Fifth state of matter?

[Urban Ranger]

Not fifth, maybe 8th or something.

[Der PH]

Originally posted by NeOmega
*How Americium works in a smoke detector

AFAIR smoke sensors using radioactive materials like Americium consist of the radioactive source emitting particles and a detector (Geiger-Mueller or something like that) for those particles.
If there is smoke between the source and the detector, part of the particles is absorbed and the count rate of the detector decreases.
But I'm not quite sure about this.

Originally posted by NeOmega
*speculation on what dark matter is

Dark matter is any form of matter that doesn't interact with photons and can therefore not be seen by any telescope. Yet dark matter can be detected indirectly by the gravitational force it applies to visible matter like stars and galaxies.

Originally posted by NeOmega
*neutrinos, and if they are in any way controllable, capturable, detectable.

Neutrinos are detectable, but only with a very small likeliness. That's the reason why neutrino-detectors like Super-Kamiokande in Japan are that big: You need a lot of matter in order to compensate for the small likeliness, if you want to see at least some of them.
BTW neutrinos are a very promising candidate for cosmic dark matter.

If you want to know more about neutrinos and dark matter, just tell me! I am very interested in those topics.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Plasma is indeed super-heated gas - gas that has been heated to such a state that all atoms become ions.

It doesn't need to be superheated. In space physics (e.g helio and geo-magnetism) the 'vacuum' of space is considered a plasma. Its nowhere near superheated.

[Urban Ranger]

Hey you are recycling your avatars

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Asher
Quantum computing would be cool too. My circuit design prof did 1 bonus lecture on it, but I'd like to know more...

Quantum computing is a big steaming pile of crap.

[Urban Ranger]

Didn't IBM or somebody else made a quantum circuit several years ago?

[Kramerman]

speculation on what dark matter is

?

Much of the mass of the galaxy and indeed known universe is unacounted for. The rates of rotation of the galaxies are much faster than they should be with the amount of matter that can be seen. Scientists then speculate about dark matter. Some specualtions of this are that it is made up of innumerable black holes, formed during the big bang when the incredible pressure exerted on bodies of mass. This was enough to compress matter into black holes that can be made up with very little mass compared to the standard black holes formed by the collapse of stars, because of the compression of their birth.

There are many other theories too, but most of them, including this one, are just speculation, at this point. A Unified theory of Physics is becoming more and more necessary before too much more significant discoveries or theories can be made with Relativity and Quantum Physics

Kman

[Der PH]

This morning I read an article in a german science magazine about tachyons (which are hypothetical particles, which cannot travel slower than the speed of light. Quite fascinating, but VERY hypothetical).
One of the presented theories tells, that neutrinos could in fact be tachyons. Sounds quite weird to me. Anybody heard anything about this?

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Combat Ingrid
I don't know about rubies etc, but I know you can make diamonds by using high explosives

These are not false ones, though.

[Az]

There are cheaper and easier ways to make diamonds, both industrial, and ornamental.

[Combat Ingrid]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
These are not false ones, though.

I can't remember saying that
However, I think these diamonds usually are of slightly worse quality than the "real" ones. Maybe their structure is not as well ordered or something...

[Asher]

Originally posted by Frogger
Quantum computing is a big steaming pile of crap.

Don't they have very very small scale quantum computing working already?

[NeOmega]

Originally posted by Der PH
This morning I read an article in a german science magazine about tachyons (which are hypothetical particles, which cannot travel slower than the speed of light. Quite fascinating, but VERY hypothetical).
One of the presented theories tells, that neutrinos could in fact be tachyons. Sounds quite weird to me. Anybody heard anything about this?

For a while I thought neutrinos were called tachyons. But then I saw the word neutrino and it refreshed my memory, somewhat.

[NeOmega]

More questions:

What is an ion engine?
What is a quantum computer?

[Richard Bruns]

Quantum computing may be overhyped, but they are well on their way to building them, and they have already developed quite a rigorous body of theory regarding their operation and programming.

There is a revised theory of gravity called MOND that gets rid of the need for excessive amounts of dark matter. I don´t know enough to debate its merits, though, and it is still just conjecture. But then again so is dark matter, since nobody has ever really proven it exists.

Artificial diamonds and gems are rather easily made and are of good quality. The problem is that they are too good, the crystalline structre is too perfect so they are easily recognised, and they don´t look as good, because it is the imperfections that give beauty to the gems and those are almost impossible to reproduce. Well, you can reproduce them but it costs more than digging up the real thing.

If you really want to blow your mind, start studying the new physics theories regarding time. They are dreaming up all sorts of unbelievable things and proving them with the proper math.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Richard Bruns
There is a revised theory of gravity called MOND that gets rid of the need for excessive amounts of dark matter. I don´t know enough to debate its merits, though, and it is still just conjecture. But then again so is dark matter, since nobody has ever really proven it exists.

MOND is nice theory, unfortunately its wholly empirical - although that means its good in the sense it fits observation its bad in the sense it doesn't help us explain anything or make abstracted predictions. Also it still doesn't explain phenomenon at the superlarge scales (clusters of galaxies) which would still require the presence of dark matter.

[Az]

I have a question that bothered me for a very long time.

It is a well known fact that the energy of the stars comes from nuclear fusion. It is said that when the stars condensed, the internal heat was high enough to trigger the beginning of the nuclear fusion process.

The trigger of Hydrogen bombs is a Fission bomb, that generates such an enviroment.

It is presumed that stars such as Jupiter didn't reach the needed critical mass in order to trigger the fusion reaction.

What would happen if humans would launch a probe with a 20 Megatonn nuke onboard. The probe would slow down using shutes, and penetrate into Jupiter, and then go off.

Would a new star be created?

[Provost Harrison]

Ah, now Americium 241 in it's oxide form is used in smoke detectors. It is an alpha particle emitter and ionises air in a small ionisation chamber. A small voltage across the chamber can produce a current which is modified by the level of ionisation within the chamber. However if smoke particles enter the chamber, then they absorb the alpha radiation, and less ionisation of the air occurs, and the current falls. This is what smoke detectors work upon...

[Az]

Good one, Provost.

I struggled to remember the principle, when it was asked.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Azazel


I have a question that bothered me for a very long time.

It is a well known fact that the energy of the stars comes from nuclear fusion. It is said that when the stars condensed, the internal heat was high enough to trigger the beginning of the nuclear fusion process.

The trigger of Hydrogen bombs is a Fission bomb, that generates such an enviroment.

It is presumed that stars such as Jupiter didn't reach the needed critical mass in order to trigger the fusion reaction.

What would happen if humans would launch a probe with a 20 Megatonn nuke onboard. The probe would slow down using shutes, and penetrate into Jupiter, and then go off.

Would a new star be created?

At a guess, no. The activation energy required for H-H fusion is so high that any dissipation of energy would be a problem for a sustained reaction.

If it could become a star it would probably explode anyway. The outward forces would be cranked up by the extra radiative pressure but with no extra gravitational force to counter it.