Car run with water

Denny Klein and his water powered car - is it for real?

Several years ago in 1995, Stanley Meyer- an inventor from Ohio, claimed that he was succeed to formulate a water fuel cell, which was demonstrated on his dune buggy, powered by water alone. But, in 1998, Meyer was passed away,and many say he received threats from oil companies and was poisoned after refusing to abandon his technology. More details can read here.

Latest, Denny Klein also from Ohio, has introduced the world’s first water powered car. His technology run on a combination of water and gasoline, and he avow its possible to develop a system powered purely by water. His car can move for 100 miles using 4 ounces of water, without losing power.

Klein’s “Aquygen” is water or H2O broken down and turned into HHO gas – a process that scientists previously considered impossible to implement. A small device was demonstrated to emit a flame hotter than the surface of the Sun; A flame so intense it can burn a hole through charcoal and turn a brass ball to glowing liquid metal within seconds. While steel, lead, and other metals slice on contact, the tip of the welder remains only slightly warm to touch. Klein says that people don’t believe him, even though it’s a natural electrolysis process. It requires a greater amount of water than the amount of HHO gas produced, but the resulting gas combines the atomic power of hydrogen and the chemical stability of water. “No other gas will do this” –he says. A representative from Klein’s company said that the fuel production cost is estimated at around 70 cents per hour, with 1,500 liters of Aquygen produced in an hour.

The technology is still undergoing various government and independent tests, and company managers say it will be ready to hit the market in about 2 years. In response to the reports, many critics argued that the story is a complete hoax, saying that the energy required to convert H2O to HHO is greater than that provided by burning Aquygen. Others have raised concerns about the long term impact of such an energy source on the car engine.

Hopefully in next two years, water or 'Aquygen' will be ready to used as f'uel' globally and nobody will die anymore to complete this research.

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor-Astronaut or spaceflight participant?

The Expedition 16 crew members pose for a portrait at the Johnson Space Center. From the left (front row) are Russia's Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, flight engineer and Soyuz commander; astronaut Peggy Whitson, commander; and Malaysian spaceflight participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. From the left (back row) are European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Léopold Eyharts, astronaut Garrett Reisman and astronaut Dan Tani, all flight engineers. Source : NASA

It's suffice if I say that we do not produced a true astronaut yet, NASA only called our astronaut as Malaysian spaceflight participant, so what that meant? Why NASA call him as spaceflight participant, and at Malaysia, in newspapers or on our mainstream television stations are busy to show an advertisement about we will have an astronaut in next two weeks (assumed our first astronaut will launch on October 10). The truth, its only like a present from Russian company to rejoice of 18 fighter jets, Sukhoi 30-MKM sold to Government of Malaysia, estimated around RM3.4 bilion. Everyone have an oppurtunity to travel to space, if you have a lot of money and good health, physical and mental, at a tag prices of AS 20 millions. A few person were celebrated as spaceflight participants are Dennis Tito ,Mark Shuttleworth , Greg Olsen and Anousheh Ansari.

Anyway, we could wish all the best to our first astronaut, the first citizen of Malaysian who will landing on ISS and hopefully come to earth in full motivations and could draw a new history in next decades, success to launch our own astronout with MAS spaceship to ISS.

As reference, China was successfully sent a man into the first time in 2003, plans to launch its own moon probe before the end of the year, followed by India in the first half of 2008. Japan kick-started the Asian lunar race on September 14, when it successfully launch its first lunar orbiter. While China and India have raised the possibility of a manned lunar mission within the next decade.

Generate power like photosynthesis

There is another amazing invention which could produced 'fuel' from water, a little bit different with what we had mentioned before in this weblog, saltwater to 'fuel'. In this technology, Martin Demuth (researcher at Max Planck Institute for Bioinorganic Chemistry in Mülheim an der Ruhr) has proposed a class of semiconductors, made of titanium disilicide (TiSi2), which can split water into hydrogen and oxygen and then stores the gases produced. The concept is simple, put water on semiconductor, then beam its directly to solar energy (photon). The hydrogen gases stored thus can be used as a 'fuel'.

More details, click here.

A new look at proton (atom)

Figure 1: The HERMES experiment (HERA measurement of spin). This photo shows that the entire experiment is mounted on rails and can be moved out of the ring of the particle accelerator (HERA). At the bottom left of the photo a piece of tube from the accelerator can be seen through which the electrons move (to the right

Paul van der Nat, Dutch researcher- for the first time was successful to demonstrate that the spin contribution of quarks to the proton can be studied by examining collisions in which two particles (hadrons) are produced.

Quarks can't stand or found alone, it's only exist in group with other quarks. Composite particles made of quarks are called hadrons. Although individual quarks have fractional electrical charges, they combine such that hadrons have a net integer electric charge. Another property of hadrons is that they have no net color charge even though the quarks themselves carry color charge and there are two classes of hadron, baryons and mesons.

To know more about particles, click here.

3-D printing

Can we envisage what will happen if we can print like say a ball, utensil, cup etc by our own need on the spot by using 3-D printer? How about a manufacturing factory related could adabt this situation? And how advance the materials could be produced by this printing machine? Can its printing a material from metal or only specific to plastic? And if its can print include metal, what should a company like paper-clips will sell? A digital file representing a physical product electronically and then can produce the object at a time and place convenient to them.

This invention was published in Inderscience publication International Journal of Technology Marketing, contrived by US researchers. No any photo available yet. So, we will wait and see how the printer look like soon. For more details, click here.

Supercomputer beyond petaflop

Tech giants IBM and Sun Microsystems, have announced petaflop supercomputers, equal to one billion megaflops. They indicated there is no barrier to more computer power, but the problem is how to manage and reduce the power usage and also to improve software. The Sun system will cost about $59 million, while the IBM supercomputer runs between $1.3 million and $1.7 million for each server in the system cluster.

To build a supercomputer, the dominant cost of the systems is memory, DRAM, which a typical supercomputer will require millions of DRAM chips. DRAM drops in price like crazy--the average selling price of DRAM dropped 35 percent from December to April. But millions of chips are millions of chips. The cables aren't cheap either. In fact, they cost more than the silicon inside switching systems.

And in Asia, China is building three petaflop supercomputer by 2010 and Japan is building a 10 petaflop machine by 2011.

Spaceport- A reality of a journey to space

A design of world's first space terminal was unveiled on September 4 at Las Cruces, New Mexico, America. The construction will begin in 2008 on 100,000 square-foot, and projected to cost about $31 million. It was designed by URS Corporation and famous extensive experience in designing airport buildings,Foster + Partners.

The world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport is designed to convey the thrill of space travel while making a minimal impact on the environment. The low-lying, organic shape resembles a rise in the landscape, and will use local materials and regional construction techniques. A careful balance between accessibility and privacy is achieved, as visitors and astronauts enter the building through a deep channel cut in the landscape. The walls will form an exhibition area leading to a galleried level above the hangar that houses the spacecraft and on through to the terminal building. Natural light enters via skylights, with a glazed façade reserved for the terminal building, establishing a platform for spectacular views onto the runway.

Source : Spaceport

Cool gadget -The flashlight for life – without batteries

This is a cool gadgets, sell by Pro-Idee, functioned just by simply crank the lower end of the flashlight for 10 seconds and you will get the power of 10 minutes of LED light. The required power is generated by the flashlight itself. Do not need to buy batteries again and we can avoid creating toxic waste. This gadget very important in emergencies, and its unlike other dynamo flashlight, twist does not discharge if it has not been used for several months. The typical “white light” is visible at a distance of up to 1km (0.6mi). The 1.5F name-brand capacitor from Nichia can be recharged up to 100,000 times (if used twice daily, this equals a lifespan of approx. 137 years). Splash water resistant. Operating temperature from -20°C to +50°C. The sturdy polycarbonate handle comfortably fits in your hand in any weather (only weighs approx. 143g/5oz.).

Trap large-scale emissions by new carbon nanotube technology

A new technology invented by Dr. Zhu from Queensland University is to snare the gas emissions produced by a large factory like coal mining and power generation. His aims is to develop a carbon-nanotubes (CNT) membran for gas separation that will work like a sieve to separate high volumes of methane or carbon dioxides from other gases. According to Dr. Zhu, this technology is very exciting because its would trap moving gases 100 times faster than other gas separation techniques and could therefore be used by large-scale plants such as power stations.

Seems that a lot of debates of climate changes drive mainly by greenhouse gas emissions, this particular technology could used to reduce its and we could stay in green-earth in a next decade compared to no initiative taken to take care of our earth at all.

Source : Physorg

Scale down of Milky Way to nucleus.

View our universe at scale of 10(+23) meters or from 10 million light years to the tiniest particles of subatomic universe of electrons and protons at 10 (-16) meters (attometers) which hopefully will help us to get better picture of the huge size of our galaxy to diminutive size of the subatomic universe.

Click here to enjoy the journey from our galaxy to the tiniest of subatomic universe (quarks).

Antimatter engine- A way to Mars

A team of researcher is work out to build a propulsion system based on positrons to travel to Mars or other planets. Conventional propulsion system which used fuel or nuclear are not available/ effective to travel in months or years journey. Propulsion based on positron (anti-electron) is not new. It was proposed by a German engineer, Eugen Saenger, in 1953. This was the classic photon rocket, but the photons (gamma rays) had to be made to reflect in order to give thrust. Unfortunately there was no way to deflect the gamma rays, then or now.

For most people, what they have been seen in science fiction movies like star war, sunshine, etc think that its never be a real invention, impossible to achieve, but in science, everything can happen. And in my understanding like I have quote on the top of my website, human being are able to invent/create everything that they can imagine in their mind except soul.

To read more, click here.

LED from Salmon sperm

Researcher and scientists all over the world talk about eco-friendly, biodegradable materials, etc, and a new invention we can proud is LED from salmon sperm. What is salmon sperm and why they used it? Salmon sperm is considered a waste product of the fishing industry. It’s thrown away by the ton,” says Prof. Steckl, a leading expert in light-emitting diodes, is intensifying the properties of LEDs by introducing biological materials, specifically salmon DNA. Electrons move constantly — think of tiny particles with a negative charge and attention deficit disorder. It is through the movement of these electrons that electric current flows and light is created.

He thinks that besides salmon DNA, other animal or plant sources might be equally useful. Biological materials have many technologically important qualities — electronic, optical, structural, magnetic,” says Steckl. “But certain materials are hard for to duplicate, such as DNA and proteins.”

So began Steckl’s work with BioLEDs, devices that incorporate DNA thin films as electron blocking layers. Most of the devices existing today are based on inorganic materials, such as silicon. In the last decade, researchers have been exploring using naturally occurring materials in devices like diodes and transistors. “The driving force, of course, is cost: cost to the producer, cost to the consumer and cost to the environment” Steckl points out, “but performance has to follow.”

“The story continues,” says Steckl, again smiling. “I’m receiving salmon sperm from researchers around the world wanting to see if their sperm is good enough.” The next step is to now replace some other materials that go into an LED with biomaterials. The long-term goal is be able to make “green” devices that use only natural, renewable and biodegradable materials.

Can we imagine their long term goal, be able to make "green" devices that use only natural, renewable and biodegradable materials? So, if we can understand like I do what they mean, almost all gadgets do not need a batery to operate its which what they will do are manipulate proton to interact with photons.

Source : Cincinnati

Dark matter - a mystery never solved

What is the dark matter? How could we measure its? What tools that available to proved of its present? A lot of questions have been raising related to this issues, but no one can proved its yet including Nobel Laurate.

Nobel laureate,James Watson Cronin said that most of the universe -- 96 percent, to be exact -- is made of dark matter and energy whose composition we simply do not fathom. "We think we understand the universe, but we only understand four percent of everything," said James Watson Cronin, who won the 1980 Nobel for physics by proving that certain subatomic reactions escape the laws of fundamental symmetry.
According the most recent models, he said, 73 percent of cosmic energy seems to consist of "dark energy" and 23 percent of dark matter, the pervasive but unidentified stuff that holds the universe together and accelerates its expansion.

The remaining four percent consists of so-called "normal matter" such as atoms and molecules.

Stavros Katsanevas,head of France's national institute for nuclear and particle physics admit that we have an idea as to its parameters, but we still don't know what dark matter is made of,".Over the next decade, explained Katsanevas, scientists will be tackling three big questions besides dark matter: the origin of cosmic rays, the existence of gravitational waves, and the mass of neutrinos, which have provided the first solid evidence of phenomena beyond what is called the Standard Model of particle physics. He also described the panoply of tools and international mega-projects designed to shed light into the universe's darker corners.

What interest me here is although we have done a lot of research and studies for more than 2 thousand years , but we only know a mere 4 percent only of universe. And, in 4 % we claimed we're understood, can we make sure its all correct? What is the tiniest particles we have discovered, it's nucleus, proton, quarks, hudron or medson? In this fact, we need to feel timid of God's power, we actually don't have nothing, everything that we have known are so little compared to gracious of God, our Majesty in this universe. God encompass everything in this universe, a little knowledge given to human being is a manifestation of Allah to show His power and tend all peoples feel afraid to Him.

Source : Physorg

USB 3.0 to come in 2008

The new USB 3.0 will come in the next year which can operate ten times faster than current generation and capable of transferring large files of 25GB and more quickly. The concept of using this USB is same like USB 2.0, plug and play capabilities and has other ameliorates like low power consumption and improved protocol efficiency. Take an advantage in optical capabilities growth, it also designed to be enable to transfer data at rates of up 4.8 Gbps.

The art of creating creatures

I'm very interact with this presentation, demonstrated by Theo Jansen at TED talks, Montorey California.What keep me in line is how he can create such a creature like take,lifelike kinetic sculptures,can move and even survive on their own, which built from plastic tubes and lemonade bottles. For me its very fantastic, brilliant.

Japan to moon mission?

I'm still dubiety whether human being can travel to moon like what U.S was done before, which U.S claims that they were succeed to land their astronouts like Neil Amstrong and their collegues for the first time on the surface of the moon. The distance between our earth's surface to moon is 237,500 miles, a journey that is expected to take about three weeks. If U.S claimed was true, so why they can't take a new journey to other planets? Ok, we let this history goes by its way and we focus for the other countries which running to explore a new dimension of space.

The news from Japan more convincing which they were make it to launch the biggest lunar mission since the US pollo flights 40 years ago. It was launched at Tanegashima island, aboard a H-2A solid-fuel rocket. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) said the probe's engines and navigation equipment appeared to be working normally. The craft - nicknamed Kaguya after the moon princess in a Japanese fairy tale - is scheduled to twice orbit Earth before travelling 237,500 miles to the moon, a journey that is expected to take about three weeks.

In the mission, which Jaxa described as the largest in scope since Nasa's Apollo programme, Kaguya's main satellite will go into orbit about 60 miles above the moon's surface, and two smaller satellites will be put into polar orbit. The probes will collect data that Japanese scientists hope will settle the long-running debate over the moon's origins and evolution. The orbiter, which is carrying 14 state-of-the-art pieces of equipment, will map previously unexplored polar areas, and a high-definition TV will send back what scientists believe will be dramatic images of the moon and of the Earth as it rises over the moon's horizon.

China also plans to send its Chang's probe to the moon later this year, which will use stereo cameras and spectrometers to construct 3-D images of the moon's surface and analse its dust. Chinese space officials plan to collect samples of dust in subsequent expeditions and reportedly hope to put a man on the moon in the next 15 years.

India, meanwhile, is expected to launch its unmanned Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter next year and may follow up with a manned expedition by 2020.

We hope from this space exploration will give a hope for human being to understand our galaxy better and utilized its to our own good.

Source : Guardian

The Most Powerful Microscope in The World

Latest development in microscope, we able to see an image at 0.05 nm and below resolution in near time. For now, it will delivered to the Berkeley National Laboratory in 2008 and will be fully operational in 2010. This machine was developed by the TEAM Project (Transmission Electron Aberration-corrected microscope), which supported by the U.S Department of energy. Later on, scientists can study in better understanding how atoms combine to form materials, how materials grow and how they respond to a variety of external factors.

Above, we can see "a high resolution TEM image of the dumbbell structure (0.14nm) of Germanium, which reveals that inter atomic distances can be measured with ultrahigh precision.
The intensity profile (insert) brilliantly proves that the contrast level in between the germanium dumbbell reaches the base level of the larger distances of the structure." (Credit: FEI Company)

Unmanned Aircraft form NASA

A lot of news we're heard about unmanned technologies. But most of them are in aircrafts, not so much in vehicles. This aircraft was built by NASA and named ‘Ikhana’ — used for imaging wildfires in California, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Images collected from the different sensors on board are transmitted via satellite to a ground station where they are analyzed and transmitted as a Google Earth overlay to fire experts.

The 6 Millions Ikhana aircraft, which has a wingspan of 66 feet and is 36 feet long, can collect data during flights lasting up to 30 hours without refueling. You can see above a picture of Ikhana flying over California. “With its sensor pod under its left wing, NASA’s remotely piloted Ikhana unmanned aircraft cruises over California during the Western States Fire Mission.” (Credit: Jim Ross, for NASA, August 9, 2007)

Matter-antimatter molecules of positronium observed in the lab for the first time

Matter-antimatter, how far we can infer its is existed? Should we believe antimatter cannot co-exist with matter for more than a very small measure of time because they annihilate each other to release enormous amounts of energy in the form of gamma radiation? How we can determine or measure of anti-matter if its cannot interact with any matter? How we can store it? A lot of question are in dubiousness and need an answers from physicists.

But, for the first time, a team of researchers at UC Riverside claim that they have succeed in created molecular positronium, an entirely new object in the laboratory. Briefly stable, each molecule is made up of a pair of electrons and a pair of their antiparticles, called positrons.

The researchers made the positronium molecules by firing intense bursts of positrons into a thin film of porous silica, which is the chemical name for the mineral quartz. Upon slowing down in silica, the positrons were captured by ordinary electrons to form positronium atoms.

When an electron meets a positron, their mutual annihilation may ensue or positronium, a briefly stable, hydrogen-like atom, may be formed. The stability of a positronium atom is threatened again when the atom collides with another positronium atom. Such a collision of two positronium atoms can result in their annihilation, accompanied by the production of a powerful and energetic type of electromagnetic radiation called gamma radiation, or the creation of a molecule of positronium, the kind Cassidy and Mills observed in their lab.

Study results appear in the Sept. 13 issue of Nature.

Source : Physorg

Electricity from orbiting solar-powered lasers

Electric from solar harnessed on earth, common thing, but solar harnessed from sun in orbit is very brilliant. This technology came from Japan, by the researchers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Osaka University Institute of Laser Engineering.

Relying on plates made from a special ceramic material containing chromium (which absorbs the sunlight) and neodymium (which efficiently converts sunlight to laser light), the newly developed lasers demonstrated an impressive 42% solar-to-laser energy conversion efficiency, outperforming previous technology by a factor of four.

The researchers say the new laser technology will play a key role in JAXA’s “Space Solar Power Systems” (SSPS) project, which aims to put space-based power systems in orbit by the year 2030. By mounting the system on a satellite in stationary orbit 36,000 km (22,400 mi.) above the equator, sunlight would be collected and converted into a powerful laser beam, which would then be aimed at a terrestrial power station and used to generate electricity or produce hydrogen.

Compared to earthbound solar power stations, this new technology not subject to night-time darkness and cloudy conditions, and be able to make use of solar energy 24 hours a day.