July 31, 2012

Green Energy?

Modern technology has significantly improved our lives. You can see the mark of engineers everywhere around you: be it the ceiling fan or the monitor that you're staring on, humans have indeed come quite a long way.

Unfortunately, everything around us is terribly reliant on energy. Conservation of energy literally makes our clock tick, and powers our lives. Therefore, losing all our energy sources is indeed an unpleasant thought. Human scientists are working around the clock to use green energy in fueling our hunger for power - however green energy isn't as efficient as those you get from nonrenewable sources...

What is green energy, you might ask?

That is the point of this post - to lay the groundwork for an upcoming green energy post that I've been working on for quite a while. Without further ado:

I'm here to tackle all your questions on renewable energy, if you have them. Leave your questions below.

July 14, 2012

[citation needed]

The posts on this site are usually of good quality, meaning I do some research regarding the topic before I write anything. I would never write something that is just based on rumors, or worse, something that does not exist.


What I'm trying to say is that I don't think I'll be able to provide sources for every post I do, sources like what you might see in a thesis. If I were to do that... it'll take up a lot of my time :(.
The sources/citation links would also present themselves as whole new unnecessary blocks of text.

Which is what this website is trying to avoid.

I try to make physics, or physics concepts easily understandable by the average reader. I can't do that if I were to show you every source to every science 'fact' that is mentioned in every post. Worst case scenario, the readers will feel the burden of knowledge and not read what I have to say entirely.

Yes, I can't deny that you should take everything posted here with a grain of salt. Although, I assure you, that every post I make is of the utmost quality. I have countless posts that were scrapped and remain in my blogger.com draft graveyard.

I have a post regarding 'Intrusive Thoughts' that I've been working on for weeks, but due to my own limitations I have never felt that it was up to standard, and it sits nicely on top of all the other drafts.

Someday, perhaps.

July 9, 2012


Triboluminescence is a physical process through which light is generated when materials are crushed, rubbed, and ripped - as electrical charges are separated and reunited. The resultant electrical discharge ionises the nearby air, triggering flashes of light.

Commonly known as 'Smash Glow Crystals', the triboluminescent property of certain materials has always intrigued the masses on the internet.

Google those phrases, watch the videos, and prepare to be mesmerised. 

Further reading:

The spectrum of light produced by (sugar) triboluminescence is the same as that for lightning. In both cases, electrical energy excites nitrogen molecules in the air. Most of the light emitted by nitrogen in the air is in the ultraviolet range that our eyes cannot see, and only a small fraction is emitted in the visible range. When the sugar crystals are stressed, positive and negative charges accumulate, finally causing electrons to jump across a crystal fracture and excite electrons in the nitrogen molecules.

Different triboluminesence light have different spectra. The duct tape videos that you see on the Internet mostly emit light in the form of X-rays. In some cases, they could be strong enough to create an x-ray image!

Sugar triboluminescence was one of the first known scientific occurrence of tri-(this word is really hard to spell). 

July 3, 2012

Ancient Nuclear Reactor

In 1972, the French Physicist Francis Perrin discovered that nature had created the world's first nuclear reactor two billion years before mankind.

This natural reactor formed when a uranium-rich mineral deposit came in contact with groundwater, which slowed the neutrons (particles) ejected from the uranium so that they could interact with and split other atoms. Heat was produced, turning the water to steam, thus temporarily slowing the chain reaction. The environment cooled, water returned, and the process repeated.

TL;DR - Nature made a nuclear reactor way before the Manhattan project was even conceived