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Archive for the ‘physics’ category: Page 275

Jan 27, 2017

Harvard Physicists Say Hydrogen Finally Turns Into Metal, But Not Everyone Is Convinced

Posted by in categories: physics, space

Squeezed between two pieces of man-made diamond in the laboratory, hydrogen has finally been transformed into a metallic form that is believed to exist inside planets such as Jupiter, scientists revealed last Thursday.

Metallic hydrogen, deemed the rarest and potentially among the most valuable on Earth, was theorized almost a century ago. If certain theoretical predictions hold true, the hydrogen could turn into a solid metal that can remain solid once crushing pressure is removed. It could also serve as a room-temperature superconductor, conducting electricity sans resistance.

“This is the holy grail of high-pressure physics,” said Harvard physics professor Isaac Silvera, who created the material along with postdoctoral fellow Ranga Dias.

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Jan 26, 2017

IT’s Real: Metallic Hydrogen Has Been Created for the First Time

Posted by in categories: physics, space

More than 80 years after it was first predicted, physicists have created metallic hydrogen — a mysterious form of hydrogen that could be capable of superconducting electricity without resistance at room temperature.

Scientists have long suspected that hydrogen could exist as a metal in certain parts of the Universe, but this is the first time metallic hydrogen has ever been created on Earth, and the material is even stranger and more fascinating than scientists imagined.

“This is the holy grail of high-pressure physics,” says lead researcher Isaac F. Silvera from Harvard University. “It’s the first-ever sample of metallic hydrogen on Earth, so when you’re looking at it, you’re looking at something that’s never existed before.”

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Jan 25, 2017

A Quick Rundown of the Alcubierre “Warp Drive”

Posted by in categories: information science, mathematics, physics, robotics/AI, space travel

In Brief Science fiction often serves as a curiosity catalyst for a lot of technological innovation. One such example is this Alcubierre Warp Drive, that would absolutely revolutionize the capability of humans to traverse the stars.

It’s always a welcome thing to learn that ideas that are commonplace in science fiction have a basis in science fact. Cryogenic freezers, laser guns, robots, silicate implants… and let’s not forget the warp drive! Believe it or not, this concept – alternately known as FTL (Faster-Than-Light) travel, Hyperspace, Lightspeed, etc. – actually has one foot in the world of real science.

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Jan 25, 2017

Plasma tidal wave may tell us if black holes destroy information

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

Physicists have long puzzled over whether black holes destroy information or conserve it – now a proposed lab experiment could use a plasma wave to find out.

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Jan 23, 2017

​Australian National University invention brings sci-fi holograms a step closer

Posted by in categories: holograms, physics

Physicists at the university have created complex holographic images in infrared.

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Jan 18, 2017

Explaining how 2-D materials break at the atomic level

Posted by in categories: nanotechnology, physics

Cracks sank the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic; decrease the performance of touchscreens and erode teeth. We are familiar with cracks in big or small three-dimensional (3D) objects, but how do thin two-dimensional (2D) materials crack? 2D materials, like molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), have emerged as an important asset for future electronic and photoelectric devices.

However, the mechanical properties of 2D materials are expected to differ greatly from 3D materials.

Scientists at the Center for Integrated Nanostructure Physics (CINAP), within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) published, on Nature Communications (“Dynamical observations on the crack tip zone and stress corrosion of two-dimensional MoS2”), the first observation of 2D MoS2 cracking at the atomic level. This study is expected to contribute to the applications of new 2D materials.

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Jan 18, 2017

“The Black Hole That Gave Birth to the Universe” — (Weekend “Galaxy” Stream)

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

The big bang poses a big question: if it was indeed the cataclysm that blasted our universe into existence 13.7 billion years ago, what sparked it? Three researchers at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and the University of Waterloo propose that the big bang could be the three-dimensional “mirage” of a collapsing star in a universe profoundly different than our own.

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Jan 17, 2017

Nanotechnology: Lighting up ultrathin films

Posted by in categories: nanotechnology, physics

Based on a study of the optical properties of novel ultrathin semiconductors, researchers of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) in Munich have developed a method for rapid and efficient characterization of these materials.

Chemical compounds based on elements that belong to the so-called transition metals can be processed to yield atomically thin two-dimensional crystals consisting of a monolayer of the composite in question. The resulting materials are semiconductors with surprising optical properties. In cooperation with American colleagues, a team of LMU physicists led by Alexander Högele has now explored the properties of thin-film semiconductors made up of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs).

The researchers report their findings in the journal Nature Nanotechnology (“Opto-valleytronic imaging of atomically thin semiconductors”).

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Jan 15, 2017

China to set up gravitational wave telescopes in Tibet

Posted by in category: physics

Good for China.

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Jan 11, 2017

Consumer Physics, Changhong and Analog Devices announce the world’s first Molecular Sensing Smartphone

Posted by in category: physics

https://www.consumerphysics.com/myscio/

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