eufisica

Airflow across a wing

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:43:00 PST

Credit: Wikipedia

"It is often said that the lift on a wing is generated because the flow moving over the top surface has a longer distance to travel and therefore needs to go faster. This common explanation is actually wrong." Here, aerodynamics expert Professor Holger Babinsky from the University of Cambridge's Department of Engineering debunks a popular, yet misleading, explanation of how wings lift.

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Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST

Aurora na Finlândia

Why Pluto is not a planet

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:06:00 PST

Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System (after Eris) and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun. Originally classified as the ninth planet from the Sun, Pluto was recategorized as a dwarf planet and plutoid due to the discovery that it is one of several large bodies within the newly charted Kuiper belt.
in Wikipedia

Watch the video:

Most powerful X-ray laser

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:00:00 PST

This photograph shows the interior of a Linac Coherent Light Source SXR experimental chamber, set up for an investigation to create and measure a form of extreme, 2-million-degree matter known as “hot, dense matter.” The central part of the frame contains the holder for the material that will be converted by the powerful LCLS laser into hot, dense matter. To the left is an XUV spectrometer and to the right is a small red laser set up for alignment and positioning. Credit: University of Oxford / Sam Vinko

Researchers working at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have used the world's most powerful X-ray laser to create and probe a two-million-degree piece of matter in a controlled way for the first time. This feat, reported today inNature, takes scientists a significant step forward in understanding the most extreme matter found in the hearts of stars and giant planets, and could help experiments aimed at recreating the nuclear fusion process that powers the sun.

in PhysOrg

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Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST

The Early Universe

Solar Storm

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:15:00 PST

On January 23, 2012, the sun unleashed an M8.7 flare accompanied by a CME and an SEP that created one of the strongest radiation storms since 2005.

Watch this close up (credit NASA):

Two faces of Titan's dunes

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:28:00 PST

Data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft show that the sizes and patterns of dunes on Saturn's moon Titan vary as a function of altitude and latitude.

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new analysis of radar data from NASA's Cassini mission, in partnership with the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, has revealed regional variations among sand dunes on Saturn's moon Titan. The result gives new clues about the moon's climatic and geological history.

in PhysOrg

Nanostructures could make high-efficiency solar cells easier to fabricate

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:26:00 PST

Showing data from four different crescent-shaped nanostructures, this figure demonstrates the strong dependence of SP excitations on crescent shape. Most significantly, the study shows that nanostructures can have a continuous light absorption spectrum even when having blunt edges, greatly simplifying fabrication requirements. Image credit: Yu Luo, et al. ©2012 American Physical Society

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the most promising methods for increasing the efficiency of solar cells consists of coating the cells’ surfaces with a thin layer of metal nanoparticles. The nanoparticles scatter incoming light in different directions, which allows the solar cells to absorb more light than they otherwise would. The scattering occurs when the incoming light stimulates the nanoparticles’ surface plasmons (SPs), which are coherent electron oscillations in the metal atoms that can reach a resonance mode when the electrons’ frequency matches the photons’ frequency. Under these conditions, the resulting “surface plasmon resonance” induces light scattering and enhances the light absorption of the surface.

in PhysOrg

Lowest frequency radar echo from the moon

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:03:00 PST

7.4075 Mhz signals from HAARP received by LWA on Oct. 28, 2007, 09:00 UTC. This figure shows the ionospheric reflections and the lunar echos of three of the more than 1400 HAARP pulses received by one of the LWA antennas in New Mexico. Credit: Naval Research Laboratory

"A team of scientists from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL’s) Research Vehicles Directorate, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., and the University of New Mexico (UNM) has detected the lowest frequency radar echo from the moon ever seen with earth-based receivers."

in PhysOrg

LWA Big Blade Antenna. Credit: NRL

The lunar echo measurements at 7.4075 MHZ are believed to be the lowest frequency (longest wavelength) at which bistatic radar measurements have been conducted. "Even though lunar echoes have been detected before at higher frequencies, it was really exciting to see them arrive in real time out under the full moon in the New Mexico desert," says NRL's Hicks.

in NRL

Objects orbiting the center of the Milky Way

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:18:00 PST

This animation shows not only the true motions of many stars orbiting the central black hole in the Milky Way but also the expected behaviour of a cloud of gas that is falling rapidly towards the black hole.

Credit:

ESO/MPE/M. Schartmann/L. Calçada

Science of Color

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:08:00 PST

Great video about Science of Color:

Earth from Space: Golden curves

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:38:00 PST

Robots, Astronauts and You

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:24:00 PST

Robots, Astronauts, and You: Exploring Space

View more presentations from FlyingSinger

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Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST

2fThree Android Apps that Read RSS Feeds to You 9
Three Android Apps that Read RSS Feeds to You http://t.co/rnkeyc4K

Degradation of the Ozone in the Artic

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:32:00 PST

March 2011: This shows strongly reduced ozone values (left, dark blue) and significantly increased concentration of chlorine monoxide (right, red) that is directly involved in ozone degradation. Credit: Figure: IMK-ASF, KIT

"Extraordinarily cold temperatures in the winter of 2010/2011 caused the most massive destruction of the ozone layer above the Arctic so far: The mechanisms leading to the first ozone hole above the North Pole were studied by scientists of the KIT Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK). According to these studies, further cooling of the ozone layer may enhance the influence of ozone-destroying substances, e.g. chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), such that repeated occurrence of an ozone hole above the Arctic has to be expected."

in PhysOrg

All the pollutants are making a really damage to the ozone concentration in the Artic. What happen next? Well, the concentration of ozone will be decrease and raise up the ultraviolet rays in the Artic. Let's face it, we have a problem.

Diagramly

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:33:00 PST

One of my students ask me about electronic circuit diagrams software and free in the internet.

Well, I found some really good stuff.

One software is TinyCAD. You cand found it in sourgeforge website. It's easy to use and free, but only gives a PNG output image.

Diagramly is an interesting schematic website. It bring us a easy way to create diagrams including circuits. You can export in XML, PNG, JPG, and SVG.

Science Behind Bursting Water Balloons

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:26:00 PST

NSTX fusion project

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:12:00 PST

"DOE's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is getting an earlier-than-expected start on a $94 million, nearly three-year project as the next stage of its mission to chart an attractive course for the development of nuclear fusion as a clean, safe and abundant fuel for generating electricity.

The project will upgrade the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) facility at PPPL, over the next 30 months, with completion slated for 2014. The work will enhance the position of the NSTX as the world’s most powerful spherical torus – or tokamak – a device that controls the superheated and electrically charged gases called plasmas that create fusion power."

in PhysOrg

Fusion energy is when atomic nuclei in plasmas combine at extremely high temperatures and release a burst of energy. Such reactions happens in the stars. But sustaining fusion in the laboratory has proven quite difficult because plasmas that leak from the confinement can halt the reaction. Controlling the plasma is thus a basic goal of fusion research.

ITER aims to produce a sustained fusion reaction in 2020s that will put out ten more energy than is needed to create it.

The NSTX (website) upgrade could also help determine the path to a possible next-generation spherical torus that would produce a burning plasma to complement the output of ITER.

Links for 2012-01-18 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST

Cosmology and Quantum Gravity
Cosmology and Quantum Gravity is out! http://t.co/iNUOUXNh ▸ Top stories today via @jajaamanda @eufisica @particle_physic @pyxmalion

CMS gaves a lot of particle collision data

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:22:00 PST

Credit: CERN

"Datasets are the currency of physics. As data accumulate, measurement uncertainty ranges shrink, increasing the potential for discoveries and making non-observations more stringent, with more far-reaching consequences. In collider experiments, the amount of data is measured by the total number of collisions observed and the rate of those collisions, called the luminosity. In 2011, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) produced more collisions than scientists dared to expect, breaking the world record luminosity in April and then continuing to grow seven-fold. By the end of the proton collision run in November, 240 million protons were colliding each second."

in PhysOrg

CMS Particle Detector
The LHC smashes groups of protons together and very close to the speed of light: 40 million times per second and with seven times the energy of the most powerful accelerators. When the collisions happens some of its energy is turned into mass and previously unobserved, short-lived particles – which could give clues about how Nature behaves at a fundamental level - fly out and into the detector.

The Physics Results
All the Physics results can be found here.

CMS is a general-purpose experiment with sub-groups producing results for many different topics including:

font: http://cms.web.cern.ch

Watch the Photobook 2008:

Open publication - Free publishing - More detector

Cosmological Data could solved some problems in Physics

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:56:00 PST

This Hubble Ultra-Deep Field image of the distant universe contains approximately 10,000 galaxies. Image credit: NASA and the ESA

(PhysOrg.com) -- Today’s most powerful telescopes collect huge amounts of data from the most distant locations of the universe – yet much of the information is simply discarded because it involves small length scales that are difficult to model. In an effort to waste less data from cosmological surveys, a team of scientists has developed a new technique that allows researchers to use otherwise unusable data by "clipping" some of the highest density peaks, which present the greatest challenge to models. This data could provide a way to address some unsolved problems in physics, including estimating the neutrino mass and investigating theories of modified gravity.

Copper collisions gives more strangeness than gold

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:24:00 PST

"Colliding pairs of copper ions produce significantly more strange quarks per nucleon than pairs of much larger gold atoms. That is the surprising discovery of physicists working on the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in the US. The finding gives further backing to the core–corona model of such high-energy collisions and could shed further light on the quark–gluon plasma – a state of matter though to have been present in the very early universe."

in PhysicsWorld

Supernova eats white dwarfs

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:22:00 PST

"Two astronomers in the US have found a Type 1a supernova that did not leave behind a surviving companion star after it exploded. Instead, they conclude that the supernova was caused by two white-dwarf stars colliding and then both stars being consumed in the conflagration. Although the observation is of just a single supernova, the discovery adds weight to the theory that at least some Type 1a supernovae are the result of such collisions."

in PhysicsWorld

Ice Avalanche in the Lab

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:19:00 PST

"A new experiment in the UK has been created to simulate ice avalanches, a hazard that can follow the collapse of a glacier or the eruption of an ice-capped volcano. Despite the obvious risk these events pose to nearby people and communities, they are still a relatively unexplored geological phenomenon. Early results from the experiment suggest that melting at the surface of individual ice particles helps to explain how these flows can travel so fluidly down a slope. Ultimately, the research could lead to more accurate systems for predicting the onset and characteristics of ice avalanches in regions of the world prone to the hazard."

in PhysicsWorld

Can NASA give us cold fusion?

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 09:42:00 PST

In NASA web page there is a comment about progress in 'cold fusion' research and a link to the slides used in a September 2011 presentation (PDF) which talks about LENR research. NASA has also released a video describing the great benefits we will get from NASA LENR research. Would it be the next domestic energy sources (about 10 kW) based on his E-Cat system (a Low Energy Nuclear Reaction or Cold Fusion energy source)? There's a rumor that it will begging shipping this year. We'll see about that.

font Slashdot

Touch Screens & Quantum Tunnelling - Sixty Symbols

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 05:10:00 PST

Time to look at the latest touch screen technology and how it uses the strange phenomenon of quantum tunnelling.

Step forward to control Nuclear Fusion

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:26:00 PST

Using a heating system, physicists have succeeded for the first time in preventing the development of instabilities in an efficient alternative way relevant to a future nuclear fusion reactor. It’s an important step forward in the effort to build the future ITER reactor.

in PhysOrg

Nuclear fusion is an attempt to reproduce the energy like the Sun does in an Earth-based reactor. The gas is heated to several million degrees, and creates a plasma. Sometimes in the plasma, an instability will appear and grow large enough to perturb the plasma. The challenge is to reduce the instabilities deep within in the interior of the plasma so that they don’t amplify, while at the same time allowing the reactor to continue to function normally.

The physicists uses antennas that are used as part of the system to heat the plasma. The simulations and the tests showed that heating and instability suppression can be combined, by aiming the radiation slightly off-center in the plasma.

(Adapted from PhysOrg )

These improvements can then be implemented in the ITER fusion reactor.

Watch this movie here to know more about ITER.

Check more about fusion.

ISS Guide Reference

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:33:00 PST

[EN]

Is available on NASA website the Reference Guide of International Space Station.

Highlight the page 21 where you can find the Guide to Experiments on the ISS.

To read and spread the word.

[PT]

Está disponível no sítio da NASA o Guia de Referência da Estação espacial Internacional (em Inglês).

Destaco a página 21 onde podemos encontrar o Guia das Experiências realizadas na ISS.

Para ler e divulgar.

[ES]

Está disponible en la ubicación de la NASA El Guía de referencia de la Estación Espacial Internacional (en Inglés).

Seleccione la página 21 donde se puede encontrar la Guía de experimentos en la ISS.

Para leer y difundir.

NASA Road Signs (humor)

noreply@blogger.com (José Gonçalves) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:23:00 PST

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Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST

Personalize Social Messages - Sciweavers
...ℋᾰ℘℘⑂ ℕ€ω ㄚ€ᾰԻ...②⓪①②.. #NYE #Happy #i2Symbol #Sciweavers, #2012 http://t.co/gdLU8Keh http://t.co/p6qVChV0