Dec 8, 2015 02:37 AM
Fusion power getting closer, say UK scientists
http://news.yahoo.com/fusion-power-getti...27166.html
EXCERPT: As world leaders meet in Paris to agree a legal framework aimed at limiting use of fossil fuels and the resulting rises in global temperatures, a UK company says it could be as little as five years from making "reactor relevant" fusion, a potential game changer in energy production. A British company believes it is within five years of achieving "reactor relevant" fusion, a major landmark in the six decade long scientific search for the veritable Holy Grail of energy production. Fusion is how stars produce energy. It occurs when the nuclei of light atoms, such as hydrogen, are fused together under extreme pressure and heat. Tokamak Energy, from Oxfordshire, believes that the third version of their compact, spherical tokamak reactor will be able to reach temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius by 2020. That's seven times hotter than the center of the sun and the temperature necessary to achieve fusion. Such a temperature fuses hydrogen atoms together, releasing energy, which differs from fission reactors that work by splitting atoms at much lower temperatures. Such an achievement wouldn't mean a rapid rollout of a global fusion electricity network, but would be a significant step to achieving this by 2050, potentially making an enormous contribution both to world energy supplies and reducing carbon emissions....
Tiny dark matter stars would harbour particles that act as one
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2...ct-as-one/
EXCERPT: [...] One theory is that dark matter could be made of particles called axions. Unlike protons, neutrons and electrons that make up ordinary matter, axions can share the same quantum energy state. They also attract each other gravitationally, so they clump together. Together, those two properties mean that the clumps would exist as a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) – a state of matter in which all the particles occupy the same quantum state, according to calculations by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her colleagues. “They act like one super-atom together,” says Prescod-Weinstein. But those clumps are prone to fracturing, she adds. “The configuration the axions ‘want’ to settle into is not one giant BEC.” Rather, they break apart into smaller clumps, which the team calls Bose stars....
How Fast Would SUPERMAN Have to Fly to Reverse the Earth’s Spin?
http://nerdist.com/how-fast-would-superm...rths-spin/
EXCERPT: If you’re a “Man of Steel” fan, chances are you’ve read some creative explanations for how Christopher Reeve managed to reverse the Earth’s spin back in 1978. The concept has sparked heavy debate over the years, but in a move that warms the cockles of our nerdy hearts, a group of physics students from the University of Leicester have calculated how fast Superman would have had to fly to make it happen. Now, before we get into the good stuff, there are a few things to note. First, Superman wasn’t reversing the Earth’s spin, he was flying fast enough to go backwards in time. Second, stopping the Earth from spinning (let alone reversing its spin) would have catastrophic results. Most notably, a lot of this: [photos]
OK, fine. Not that, but it would be very, very bad. But if Superman did spin the Earth backwards, he would need some mechanism to transfer inertia to the planet. For the purposes of this explainer we’re going to assume he has one (comic book physics, and all that jazz). Through their calculations, the University of Leicester team concluded that Kal-El would have had to fly at....
http://news.yahoo.com/fusion-power-getti...27166.html
EXCERPT: As world leaders meet in Paris to agree a legal framework aimed at limiting use of fossil fuels and the resulting rises in global temperatures, a UK company says it could be as little as five years from making "reactor relevant" fusion, a potential game changer in energy production. A British company believes it is within five years of achieving "reactor relevant" fusion, a major landmark in the six decade long scientific search for the veritable Holy Grail of energy production. Fusion is how stars produce energy. It occurs when the nuclei of light atoms, such as hydrogen, are fused together under extreme pressure and heat. Tokamak Energy, from Oxfordshire, believes that the third version of their compact, spherical tokamak reactor will be able to reach temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius by 2020. That's seven times hotter than the center of the sun and the temperature necessary to achieve fusion. Such a temperature fuses hydrogen atoms together, releasing energy, which differs from fission reactors that work by splitting atoms at much lower temperatures. Such an achievement wouldn't mean a rapid rollout of a global fusion electricity network, but would be a significant step to achieving this by 2050, potentially making an enormous contribution both to world energy supplies and reducing carbon emissions....
Tiny dark matter stars would harbour particles that act as one
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2...ct-as-one/
EXCERPT: [...] One theory is that dark matter could be made of particles called axions. Unlike protons, neutrons and electrons that make up ordinary matter, axions can share the same quantum energy state. They also attract each other gravitationally, so they clump together. Together, those two properties mean that the clumps would exist as a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) – a state of matter in which all the particles occupy the same quantum state, according to calculations by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her colleagues. “They act like one super-atom together,” says Prescod-Weinstein. But those clumps are prone to fracturing, she adds. “The configuration the axions ‘want’ to settle into is not one giant BEC.” Rather, they break apart into smaller clumps, which the team calls Bose stars....
How Fast Would SUPERMAN Have to Fly to Reverse the Earth’s Spin?
http://nerdist.com/how-fast-would-superm...rths-spin/
EXCERPT: If you’re a “Man of Steel” fan, chances are you’ve read some creative explanations for how Christopher Reeve managed to reverse the Earth’s spin back in 1978. The concept has sparked heavy debate over the years, but in a move that warms the cockles of our nerdy hearts, a group of physics students from the University of Leicester have calculated how fast Superman would have had to fly to make it happen. Now, before we get into the good stuff, there are a few things to note. First, Superman wasn’t reversing the Earth’s spin, he was flying fast enough to go backwards in time. Second, stopping the Earth from spinning (let alone reversing its spin) would have catastrophic results. Most notably, a lot of this: [photos]
OK, fine. Not that, but it would be very, very bad. But if Superman did spin the Earth backwards, he would need some mechanism to transfer inertia to the planet. For the purposes of this explainer we’re going to assume he has one (comic book physics, and all that jazz). Through their calculations, the University of Leicester team concluded that Kal-El would have had to fly at....