Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Weasel sent me this link to a paper describing the Coulomb explosion cited as the source for this heatless phenomenon. Apparently, the "vaporize" in this context describes breaking the atomic lattice into what could be called atomic dust and does not refer to actually converting matter to energy ala e=mc^2 style (which would be quite powerful). A read through the paper seems to indicate that the speed at which the atoms are bombarded, coupled with the short duration of contact, leads to a strong electromagnetic field instead of the heat that would usually occur. Too bad the article didn't mention this, as it is much more plausible.
A recent article floating around suggests there is a new laser that has been developed that can vaporize matter without creating heat. I have to wonder what the caveats of this claim are as it seems to violate some pretty fundamental rules of physics. If the matter is vaporized, it must take some form of energy - heat, sound, light, etc., but this is not mentioned. With so little to go on, this sounds like a "where does the poo go?" type of claim to me and wholly unscientific.
Friday, June 15, 2007
This is probably one of the funnier pranks (and pretty ballsy) I have seen in awhile. Members of "The Yes Men" managed to infiltrate a Gas and Oil convention and deliver the key note. Sarcastic hilarity ensues...
Thursday, October 5, 2006
Mmmm….
teleportation. Is this cool or what?