Applied Physics

Fundamental Physics Measurements with LEGO

In the late 1800's, a small, well-formed cylinder composed of platinum and a little iridium (the same alloy used in fine platinum jewelry today) was defined by the international scientific community to have a mass of exactly one kilogram. This was not ...

Blog Post - Matthew T. Dearing - Nov 8 2015 - 8:28am

Hitler's Supergun: V-3 And The Plot To Destroy London

The V-3 “supergun” was meant to win the war for Germany. In 1943, for the first time since World War II began, Hitler was on the back foot. Allied bombs were devastating German cities and the Fuhrer was rattled. His proposed V-3 cannon would be the bigges ...

Article - The Conversation - Nov 22 2015 - 9:28am

Electric Fields Remove Nanoparticles From Blood

Engineers have developed a new technology that uses an oscillating electric field to easily and quickly isolate drug-delivery nanoparticles from blood.  Nanoparticles are generally one thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair and are difficul ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 23 2015 - 10:35am

New Power Paper Can Store Electricity

Researchers have developed power paper; a new material with an outstanding ability to store energy. The material consists of nanocellulose and a conductive polymer and one sheet, 15 centimeters in diameter and a few tenths of a millimeter thick can store ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 3 2015 - 12:55pm

Biologically Powered Chip Built, Runs Using Cellular ATP

Engineers have harnessed the molecular machinery of living systems to power an integrated circuit from adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy currency of life, and they did it by integrating a conventional solid-state complementary metal-oxide-semicondu ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 14 2015 - 7:48am

How Lithium Batteries Degrade During Use

One thing that prevents cost-effective uptake of large-scale alternative energy, like solar and wind energy, is a lack of storage solutions. On the small scale, it is only an annoyance that battery technology has not really advanced in decades. One thing ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 18 2015 - 7:56am

How Water Learns To Dance

Perovskites are materials used in batteries, fuel cells, and electronic components, and occur in nature as minerals. Despite their important role in technology, little is known about the reactivity of their surfaces. How do water molecules behave when the ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 21 2015 - 3:40pm

It's Christmas Time...To Think About Temporality

Well, it’s that time of year again – and there it is; just four words into an article on Christmas I’ve used the word ‘time.’ Among the hodge-podge of rituals and holidays that survive in the post-Christian West, Christmas might just be the one that tells ...

Article - The Conversation - Dec 24 2015 - 10:00am

DIY Stereograph

In my previous article, Subscription Box Chemistry Set, I tested the Google Cardboard headset from the starter kit as a stereograph viewer with stereographs I found online. Unfortunately, the screen widths for my iPod and Android phone were too small to u ...

Article - Steve Schuler - Dec 30 2015 - 9:11am

Generating Electric Current Without Energy Consumption- At Room Temperature

Researchers have identified the requirements for the development of new types of extremely low power consumption electric devices by studying Cr-doped (Sb, Bi) 2 Te 3 thin films.  At extremely low temperatures, an electric current flows around the edge of ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 1 2016 - 2:08pm