Applied Physics

Better Speakers Using Laser-Driven Sound Fields

Loudspeakers have improved a lot in the last 50 years but one pesky issue has remained; dead spots.     Modern oudspeakers can be designed to deliver the full frequency range of audible sound but it is difficult to achieve a smooth frequency output in all ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 8 2011 - 12:00pm

World’s Lightest Metal Is 1/100th The Weight Of Styrofoam

Researchers have developed what they are billing as the world’s lightest material. With a density of 0.9 mg/cc, it is about one hundred times lighter than Styrofoam™.  The new material redefines the limits of lightweight materials because of its unique “mi ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 21 2011 - 11:50am

Shear Strain- The Jam In Your Coffee

Scientists aren't sure what causes clogs in flowing macroscopic particles, like corn, coffee beans and coal chunks. But new experiments suggest that when particles undergo shear strain, they jam sooner than expected.  Shear strain is sort of like cupp ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 18 2011 - 8:30am

Ohm For Christmas

Ohm For Christmas The ohm is the unit of electrical resistance.  It is named in honor of the genius of Georg Ohm, who figured out that the flow of electricity in materials from a 'hot' source might just resemble the flow of heat from a hot sourc ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Dec 23 2011 - 7:06pm

The Genius Of Georg Ohm

The Genius Of Georg Ohm Much of the genius of Georg Ohm is forgotten.  He is remembered mostly as the scientist who defined the relationship between electrical resistance, electric force and electric current.  Not only do writers generally ignore Georg Oh ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Jan 16 2012 - 7:36pm

Magnetic Soap- Just Because We Can

Scientists have developed a soap composed of iron rich salts dissolved in water that responds to a magnetic field when placed in solution.  That's right, magnetic soap. But there is a practical side. The generation of this property in a fully function ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 23 2012 - 7:37pm

Champagne Science: Flute Or Coupe For The Best Bubbles?

In time for Valentine's Day, researchers have determined which champagne glass size will give drinkers the optimal experience.  ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 9 2012 - 8:31am

Kink Instability, Magnetic Reconnection And The Origin Of Solar Flares?

Last month, we were treated to the biggest solar storm since 2005, generating some of the most dazzling northern lights in recent memory. The source of that storm, and others like it, was the sun's magnetic field, described by invisible field lines th ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 16 2012 - 12:31pm

Zapping Antihydrogen To Get An Anti-Atomic Fingerprint

The elusive antihydrogen atom has been manipulated using microwaves, providing the first glimpse of an "anti-atomic fingerprint."  Antimatter is a staple of science fiction, but it also stands out as one of the biggest mysteries of science fact. ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 8 2012 - 4:30am

Neutron Clock- Accurate For 14 Billion Years

Time is relative, of course, but we still hate to be late for appointments.  So there has always been research on making our keeping of time a little more accurate. A new clock tied to the orbiting of a neutron around an atomic nucleus could have such unpr ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Sep 5 2012 - 10:26pm