How Many Farts Does It Take To Make A Tornado?

Apparently, not many. That is, if you do it at just the right time and place.

This week, Edward Norton Lorenz died:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/18/db1801.xml

Why is this notable? Because Dr. Lorenz is an early researcher in Chaos Theory who came up with a mathematical principle called the Butterfly Effect.

What is The Butterfly Effect? No, I'm not talking about that singularly horrible B sci-fi movie made a few years ago, or its even worse sequel. I'm talking about the mathematical theory that very small changes early on in a system, such as "the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil" could lead to extreme repercussions later in that system, such as "a tornado in Texas."

Lorenz was a meteorologist (and previously an Army Air Corps weather forecaster during WWII) who was trying to use mathematical models to make long-range forecasts of wind currents. One day back in 1961, Lorenz ran a computer simulation that he had run before (using one of those early, building-sized computers) and got a completely different result than he had the first time. Very surprising, since he had thought everything had been entered exactly the same. It turns out that this time he had rounded the number 0.506127 to 0.506, a 0.1% difference.

Some people would shrug that off, re-enter the correct number, and continue on with their work. I've known lab rats like that. But Lorenz was among the few who could see this result and realize the great significance of it. What he had stumbled upon was proof that very small changes, like a seemingly minor increase in temperature or wind speed and direction, could cause profound weather deviations down the line, perhaps in a totally different part of the world. This factor was dubbed the "Lorenz Attractor."

For example, if you start a ball rolling at the top of a hill, but it is at only a very slightly different position, it will likely wind up at a very different position at the bottom. Or if a seagull flapped its wings at just the right time and place in Brazil, the change it created in the wind could lead to a tornado in Texas (to use his examples). These sorts of things have been demonstrated in simulations again and again, including with the newest supercomputers. The movie "It's A Wonderful Life" illustrates this principle, in a more sappy, cultural manner (I cry everytime when George Bailey's brother makes that toast at the end!).

So, let me see if I understand: if a plaza full of Germans eating Octoberfest sauerkraut, brautworst, and beer suddenly let loose with a cloud of warm gas (from whichever end you choose), the sudden change in heat and wind could cause a cascade of events that leads to winds that rip across the Atlantic and belch up a hurricane that ravages America?

Damned Germans. I knew it! They caused Hurricane Katrina!

That's it! I'm throwing out my laderhosen.

Of course, those "Lorenz Attractors" can prevent devient weather, too.

And as for Dr. Lorenz, he led a very active life, with many awards, scholarly papers, and academic achievements, most of which seem to revolve around the later refinements of his initial discovery. You could say his personal "Butterfly Effect" was his own discovery of the Butterfly Effect, if that makes any sense. His Butterfly Effect theory has led to a better understanding of seemingly random events that can drastically change our weather – more important now than ever with global warming – and has been used in science fields far beyond meteorology.

He was an avid sportsman, even into old age. But cancer finally claimed him a few days ago, on April 16. He died at home in Cambridge, with family, having finished yet another paper only a week before. He was 90 years old.

Thank you for your contributions, Dr. Lorenz. And I'm glad to hear that your death wasn't a chaotic one. I just wonder what that last breath of yours did to the weather.


Images taken from HERE and HERE.

An Atomic Energy Lab -- For Children!

Oh, to have lived in the early 50's! When Father Knows Best was the ideal for households everywhere. When racial discrimination was still a simmering norm. And when the secrets of the atom seemed to promise both everlasting energy and weaponized domination, not to mention fodder for so many titillating "B" sci-fi monster movies.

In 1950, the year America's Federal Civil Defense Administration released its movie, Duck and Cover, and even the atomic scientists still thought atomic radiation was no more harmful than sunlight, Gilbert Toys released the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab:

http://www.orau.org/PTP/collection/atomictoys/GilbertU238Lab.htm

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_U-238_Atomic_Energy_Laboratory

Yes, toy inventor (and record-breaking, Gold Medal Olympic athlete) Alfred Carlton Gilbert, the maker of the famous Erector Set, microscope sets, chemistry sets, and American Flyer toy train sets, released the most complete atomic energy detection set for children ever made.

Wait. For children?

Yes, this kit came complete with radioactive energy sources, including uranium ore, as well as detection devices, including a Geiger counter, cloud chamber (where atomic particles created shooting clouds of vapor), and the tongue-twisting-named spinthariscope (which showed alpha radiation particles using sparks of fluorescence). There was also a little nuclear model set and some manuals. For the not-so-low price of $50, little Johnie could examine simple nuclear phenomena and go search for new sources of uranium in the back yard.

Most humorous of all, though, was a comic book, entitled Dagwood Splits The Atom, featuring everyone's favorite deli-sandwich-eating, hollow-eyed comic couch potato, Dagwood's wife, Blondie, Mandrake the Magician, and even Popeye!

For one year, between 1950 and 1951, this kit was on the market, selling radioactive uranium ore to be marveled over by geeky young teens and preteens everywhere. And to think, today, the tiniest speck of nearly harmless radioactive dust used by scientists in biological fields has to be closely monitored, accounted for, and discarded according to strict Federal guidelines.

This was still several years before folks realized that the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs had done more than kill with heat. The radiation eating away at the victims of those bombs, and numerous guinea pig American soldiers in Nevada ground zero sites, had yet to be understood. Heck, why not let little kids handle radiation?

Look at the cool sparks in your spinthariscope, Billy! That's American scientific eminence wavin' back at ya!


Image taken from HERE.

Thinking On The Nano-Scale

It's an amazing time in the history of technology, isn't it? It seems every technogadget is getting smaller: cell phones, music players, computers, devices that do all three, your bank account as you purchase them in a vain attempt to keep up with the modern age. Of course, none of these wondrous inventions would be possible without our intrepid physicists working out ever better ways to build things on the nano-scale, such as tiny optical switches, flash memory cards, and even nanotube radios. They are pushing the limits of the infinitesimal for computers and structures made from just a few atoms or molecules.

Sure, sure, sure. Yawn. You material scientist physicist-types are amazing. Now go do something truly useful like, oh, how about making the world's smallest toilet:
http://www.desco.be/Desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=315

Yes, the nano-toilet is one of many nano-sculptures that startles the imagination and makes one wonder, "How is it physicists can have so much time on their hands?" Need to take a really, really small dump? Now you can, as long as your nano-crap is no larger than a red blood cell.

The nano-toilet joins the ranks of other completely useless gee-whiz nano-inventions, which includes the world's smallest guitar, smiley face, and Hebrew Bible.

But my personal preference is this lovely sculpture, based on Rodin's "The Thinker": http://www.nextnature.net/?p=883

I guess you have to think very small thoughts to be on par with this great sculpture, which can quite nicely tuck away into any pore in your body and wear those passing red blood cells as a toupee.

But I always felt sorry for The Thinker. I mean, just think about it, he's naked, he's in a slumped posture, and he's sitting on a freakin' irregular-shaped rock in full view of everyone. How uncomfortable is that? How the heck is one supposed to be pensive under those conditions? Is there any place a naked man in a slumped posture can sit comfortably and think about things?

Why, what better place for a nano-thinker to sit and think than a nano-toilet?




Images taken from HERE and HERE and ruthlessly altered in Photoshop.

A Nuclear Reactor In Your Garage

Are you tired of living on "The Grid"? Do those pesky electric bills get you down? Is solar energy just too "'80's"? Well now Toshiba has the answer to your energy woes! Introducing the Micro Nuclear Reactor:

http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news-toshiba-micro-nuclear-12.17b.html

Yes, that's right! At only 20 feet by 6 feet, this 200kW nuclear fission reactor can fit in your own garage. Now that's handy! Handling dangerous nuclear material is as easy as flipping a switch. Nifty. And it can power an entire city block or apartment complex. Why, you'll be the envy of your entire neighborhood. How's that for empowerment? What's more, you won't even have to be on the electrical grid. Sell it back to the city. Snap!

But wait, there's more! Using reservoirs of radioactive lithium-6 instead of those snarky uranium rods and cooling towers we're used to seeing, the entire process in the Micro Reactor is self-contained and can produce energy for 40 years. When it's finished, just ring up Toshiba on the iPhone and they'll come and pick it up. Why, that's disposable energy to you and me! Who cares where they take it after that! At half the cost of standard electricity, you'll be singing all the way to the bank.

Power your own little island or impenetrable fortress like a James Bond villain if you like. We'll help! You'll be seeing this radioactive dream in Japan in 2008 and in Europe and America in 2009. But don't wait! Order yours now!

No More Power Cords Or Batteries?

I hate wires. Hooking up stereo systems is a bother for me, but I eventually get it right. I recently wired my ceiling fan wrong and had to take it apart again to fix it – not an easy thing given that my ceiling is high (as they tend to be) and I am short. Ever tried to twist together three wires while supporting the weight of a ceiling fan and balancing on a ladder? I cursed like a sailor. Even after I finished, the damned ceiling fan still mysteriously turns on or off on its own, lights included. Some mornings I come into my family room to find the light on and the fan going full speed. I choose to live with it. I prefer to think it’s haunted rather than blame my poor electrical skills.

I include power cords in my hatred. Power cords often aren’t long enough, which offends my sense of freedom. Or if they are long enough, they get in the way, get tangled, or serve as forbidden entertainment for my toddlers. And often you have to have plug adaptors or surge protectors. My house is pretty old, and half of the sockets won’t take the three-pronged (grounded) appliance plugs, which leaves me aggravated when I can’t use the appliance I want. Our bedroom dehumidifier is on a long extension cord that runs out of our bedroom and around the corner to reach a three-prong outlet. It’s a tripping hazard. I hate it. And I can’t afford to have an electrician come and re-wire the house. Given my experience with the ceiling fan, I can say with some confidence that I shouldn’t do it myself. I prefer my house non-flaming.

I also hate batteries. All batteries, from the little button batteries through “coppertops” and rechargeables up to laptop batteries. They’re expensive. Some are heavy. They don’t hold much energy. They don’t last long enough. They contain heavy metals, and thus are pollutants when thrown away. I hate how my old electric razor battery no longer holds a decent charge, forcing me to plug it in to get a somewhat decent shave. Thus I hate both the battery and the power cord. I hate them almost enough to want to go back to the painful, bleeding manual razor and shaving lotion.

So every time I try to envision a bright and beautiful technologically-driven future, I see a house without wires or batteries. Instead, I imagine some central power source which “magically” sends energy through the ether to all the light bulbs, cell phones, can openers, kids toys, and any other electrical device within the house. You never see power cords on Star Trek, do you? Or Star Wars? Or any other sci fi show? Spock never had to plug in his tricorder. Luke didn’t have to recharge his light saber. It’s taken for granted that the power sources are either small and extremely powerful within the devices, or the central power system runs without cords.

Now some researchers have finally started making my dream a reality:
http://www.physorg.com/news100445957.html

A team of physicists from MIT are able to use their device to send energy across a gap of at least seven feet to light a 60W light bulb. You can even obstruct the direct line of sight between the coils at either end of the gap (as you can see in the photo, taken from the above link). They call it "WiTricity" (for wireless electricity). Another name for this is “evanescent wave coupling.” It’s the same technology that powers your sonic toothbrush. To make WiTricity, they used a theory of coupled magnetic resonance, which is explained in that article. Basically, it’s a magnetic wave that interacts very weakly with most objects, including humans, but because the wave emitter and the device resonate at the same magnetic frequency, they interact strongly, allowing energy transfer. The article compares this to an opera singer singing at a note at just the right frequency of a wine glass, causing the glass to shatter: her vocal cords and the glass resonate at the same frequency, causing a power transfer strong enough to vibrate the glass beyond its limits. The authors imagine the technique to be broadly applicable to nearly any small electrical device, including laptops and cell phones, powering all such devices within the confines of a room.

Their work will be reported in the June 7 issue of Science Express, the advance online publication of the journal Science. (HERE is a previous article about their work). Of course, Tesla worked on this very thing, almost a century ago, but apparently this team has made new progress.

And God only knows how the magnetic field will interact with our biology. Are migrating birds passing over your house going to suddenly fly off in random directions? Are the scientists in that picture going to suffer somehow? Heck, that guy in the back is already losing his hair. Will the people in WiTricity homes develop green skin and grow to twice their height, strength, and rage level, a la the Incredible Hulk? I hope not, but then again, it would be a much more exciting world, wouldn't it?

But migrating birds and the Incredible Hulk aside, given this marvelous bit of electrical genius and the current rate of miniaturization, your laptop will soon be as light and slim as a clipboard, your cell phone will be built into your eyeglasses or earrings, and every light in your house will be able to be taken down and carried with you, still shining.

And maybe I won’t have to trip over my damned dehumidifier cord anymore.

Hawking Went Weightless

Yes, renowned physicist and wheelchair-ridin’ Stephen Hawking has gone weightless. As you may remember, back in December I blogged about how Hawking, upon receiving another honor, spoke about the need for humanity to extend their permanent presence beyond the reach of Earth and how he very much wished to go to space himself. Then, in March, the offer was extended to him to do just that. The first step was to go weightless, free of charge, in one of those “vomit comet” airplanes, like astronauts do during training. He was the first handicapped person to do so.

Story, with video:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/04/26/hawking.flight.ap/index.html


It happened yesterday, and he loved it. How could he not? Bound to the confines of a wheelchair anytime outside of bed, restricted to the cruelty of gravity. Suddenly he’s rolling free at zero-G. The few working muscles in his face were smiling as broadly as could be managed, as you may have seen in the video of his flight. He went weightless a total of eight times.

Said Hawking, after the flight: “"It was amazing. The zero-G part was wonderful and the full-G part was no problem. I could have gone on and on. Space, here I come."

Hawking is likely to be one of the first passengers on the coming space tourist agency flights by Richard Branson some time in late 2009 or 2010.

Quadriplegics in space! You go, Stephen! Maybe the experience will give you a new outlook on your Theory of Everything.


Addendum: A better video: http://video.physorg.com/?channel=Space&clipid=880809.

See The World Through Rose-Tinted Lenses, Or Any Other Color You Wish!

The other day I was talking with a couple co-workers in the hall as they were preparing to leave work. They put on their Transitions sunglasses and complained about how they weren't changing back and forth very well anymore from clear to dark. "Yeah," said one, "when they get about a year old they slow down in their change rate and it takes too long. They slow down when it gets cold, too."

At this point I remembered watching a sci-fi movie called The Man Who Fell To Earth, staring David Bowie. I wouldn't call the movie excellent, but it has a cult following. It's from Bowie's glam days, after all, back in 1976. Bowie plays an alien (no stretch there!) who has come to Earth in an effort to save his dying family, who waits for rescue back on his home planet. He fits into human society using a facial mask (decades before the Mission Impossible movies) and cosmetic contact lenses, and quickly becomes a wealthy entrepreneur by patenting inventions based on the technology of his home world. There were some interesting inventions in the story which have since come true: self-developing film, cosmetic contact lenses, music spheres (which play like CDs), and UV light-sensitive ("photochromic") sunglasses, like Transitions lenses. Bowie's character possesses a pair of these sunglasses. They protect his alien eyes against the harsh Earthly light, they allow him to see in other wavelengths, and, in the presence of sunlight OR at the press of a button, they turn from clear to dark or back again. I remember thinking how cool it would be to change at the touch of a button, and that we couldn't be technologically far from making it.

Now, once again, science fiction has become reality. In fact, it's even cooler:

http://www.physorg.com/news94216721.html

A chemist named Chunye Xu and colleagues at the University of Washington in Seattle's Center for Intelligent Materials and Systems have invented photoelectric glass coatings that, at the touch of a button, can go from clear to any color you wish in just a second. Need your glasses to match your teal pumps? No problem. Just dial in the appropriate electrical signal to get the right color and darkness. The coatings are made of special polymers, and come in red, blue, and green. Combinations of these polymers can make just about any color. The color change happens with the application of a very small electrical charge from a small battery and a gold/silicone actuator, or can be stimulated by pH, temperature, or light changes depending on the formulation. They have a number of patents. Go HERE for a short PowerPoint presentation of the physical details. This technology will also be developed for goggle lenses, face shields, aircraft windshields, and office windows.

Eyeglasses should be available within a couple years. I'll be waiting for my pair. Ooh, wouldn't it be wicked to have the color and darkness change rapidly, on purpose, shifting color every few seconds? Or have each lens a different color? I wonder if you could have the lenses vary in color and intensity across their face? Could you apply this technology to home windows, or church windows, or Christmas ornaments, or my friggin' aquarium? You could do all sorts of gimmicky things, I imagine.

Hot Ice

Riddle me this: How do you make ordinary water turn to ice while heating it above the boiling point?

It's all about pressure. At 0 degrees Celsius (or 32 degrees Fahrenheit, for you American, non-science types), water freezes to ice, but if you increase the atmospheric pressure, even a little, it melts back to a liquid. Increase the pressure a great deal, and it turns into ice again, but not the same sort of ice you're used to.

Take the planet Neptune, for instance. If you were to teleport a glass of water into its atmosphere, that water would suddenly be exposed to very high pressures, above 70,000 Pascals. At that pressure, it is more thermodynamic for water molecules to go to a close-packing arrangement, forming ice, even at high temperatures. Under these conditions, it only takes nanoseconds for the ice to form. This was recently demonstrated using the Z machine at Sandia National Laboratory:

http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2007/z-ice.html

The Z Machine was built and has been maintained by the Department of Energy for experiments on nuclear fusion. It can produce temperatures greater than the sun and magnetic rays comparable to neutron stars. How would you like to be technicians working on that rig? And to think their moms scolded them for standing too close to the TV! When fired in its usual configuration, Z releases in X-rays, for a fraction of a second, about 80 times the entire Earth’s electrical generating capacity. You can find out more about this gigantic machine HERE. The Z machine made ice by passing electric pulses of twenty million amperes through an aluminum container containing water. The magnetic field created by these pulses created a pressure of more than 70,000 atmospheres, forming ice at that pressure level, even though the temperature was hotter than boiling water. That will give you one hell of a headache!

What really blows my mind is that there are many forms of ice. Thirteen found so far, depending the temperature and pressure. Each form has its own lattice structure and thermodynamic properties. For instance, the sort of ice we are familiar with expands when it freezes, but all the other forms contract. The ice created by the Z machine is called "Ice VII". When you go home at night and have a refreshing glass of your favorite beverage, the ice you hear clinking around is what physicists call "Ice Ih". But if you increase the atmospheric pressure, the ice will melt back to a liquid. If you continue to exert more pressure, the liquid will freeze to a solid again, but this time it will be "Ice VI". Increase the pressure even more, and you get "Ice VII". HERE is a link to a page with an interactive graph showing all these different forms of ice and their temperature and pressure conditions, including notes on where these conditions match the ambient conditions of Earth, Mars, and Venus, with links to further information on each kind of ice.

Even though it is considered a gas giant, the center two-thirds of Neptune is solid, including water, and there is water in the considerably thick, gaseous atmosphere around the planet. You'll find two different water ices there, Ice II and Ice VI.

Of course, you'll never get the pleasure of cooling your drink or making Sno-cones out of these different types of ice, since in order to do so you would have to be willing to be frozen to death or crushed under incredible pressures, and you would either burn off or freeze off the insides of your mouth!

Stephen Hawking Is Going Weightless

Yes! In one of my posts back in December, I reported how the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, after receiving the Royal Society Copley Award, had expressed a profound interest in going to space. Now he's going to get his chance:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/03/01/hawking.space.ap/index.html

First, on April 26, he's getting a free flight on one of those "vomit comet" flights where they take you up and down at sharp angles such that, during the downward flights, you experience about half a minute of weightlessness. Hosted by a company called Zero Gravity Corp. in Florida, the flight has a value of $3750, and will afterward auction off a couple seats from the flight.

Then, Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic company will give Hawking a free suborbital flight to outer space on their spaceship (to be completed in 2009), at a value of $200,000.

Man! Can't you just see the gangly, nearly completely paralyzed Hawking floating around in zero-G, sans wheelchair (or even with wheelchair)? I can hear his synthesized voice going, "Wow . . this . . is . . totally . . rad." And I guess this will make him the first physically handicapped person to go into space.

And kudos to Zero Gravity Corp and Sir Branson! But then, how could they possibly refuse the greatest physicist of all time, gravity theorist extraordinaire?

UPDATED (4/27/07): Hawking took his ride, and went weightless, and loved it. See more recent post: http://angrylabrat.blogspot.com/2007/04/hawking-went-weightless.html.

African-American Scientists: Shirley Ann Jackson

Continuing my celebration of Black History Month, this week's featured African-American scientist is Shirley Ann Jackson, a theoretical physicist, world expert in nuclear regulation, and current president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

A good profile: http://www.rpi.edu/president/profile.html

Dr. Jackson is the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate from M.I.T. — in any subject. She is one of the first two African-American women to receive a doctorate in physics in the U.S. She is the first African-American to become a Commissioner of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She is both the first woman and the first African-American to serve as the chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and now the first African-American woman to lead a national research university. She also is the first African-American woman elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Shirley Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., in 1946. Strongly supported by her parents, she excelled in school, attending accelerated classes in math and science, and graduating in 1964 as valedictorian. She immediately entered M.I.T., studying theoretical physics while volunteering at the Boston City Hospital and the YMCA. Four years later she graduated with her bachelors degree, writing her dissertation on solid-state physics (which was at the forefront of theoretical physics at the time). Although accepted at Brown, Harvard, and the University of Chicago, Jackson decided to stay at MIT for her doctoral work, because she wanted to encourage more African American students to attend the institution. She earned her Ph.D. in elemental particle theory in1973.

In the '70s, Jackson focused on high-energy particle physics, including work at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. In the '80s and early '90s she worked on a wide array of physics including energy superlattices, superconductors, neutrino research, quantum physics, and opto-electronic materials, preparing or collaborating on over 100 scientific articles.

From 1991 to 1995, Dr. Jackson was professor of physics at Rutgers University, where she taught undergraduate and graduate students, conducted research on the electronic and optical properties of two-dimensional systems, and supervised Ph.D. candidates. She concurrently served as a consultant in semiconductor theory to AT&T Bell Laboratories

By the mid-'90s Jackson increasingly became affiliated with politics and nuclear policy. In 1995 President Bill Clinton appointed Dr. Jackson to serve as Chairperson of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), continuing until 1999. As Chairperson, she was the principal executive officer of and the official spokesperson for the NRC. While in this role, Jackson worked with a number of world organizations and served as a liaison between our nation and others for nuclear issues, including the International Atomic Energy Agency. Jackson served 10 years as a member of the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology, appointed by the governor.

Jackson holds an amazing 40 honorary doctoral degrees, including at Harvard University, and holds more awards than I could reasonably list here. She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998 for her significant and profound contributions as a distinguished scientist and advocate for education, science, and public policy. She was inducted into the Women in Technology International Foundation Hall of Fame (WITI) in June 2000. WITI recognizes women technologists and scientists whose achievements are exceptional.

Since 1999, Shirley Jackson has served as the 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, New York. Dr. Jackson is married to Dr. Morris A. Washington, also a physicist. They have one son, Alan, a graduate of Dartmouth College.