Monday, December 16, 2013

In Hot Water

Scientists from the Hamburg Center for Free-Electron Laser Science have devised a novel way to boil water in less than a trillionth of a second. The theoretical concept, which has not yet been demonstrated in practice, could heat a small amount of water by as much as 600 C in just half a picosecond (a trillionth of a second). ....
All it takes for superfast water heating is a concentrated flash of terahertz radiation. Terahertz radiation consists of electromagnetic waves with a frequency between radio waves and infrared. ...
The novel method can only heat about one nanoliter (billionth of a liter) in one go. This may sound small, but is large enough for most experiments. For comparison, ink-jet printers fire droplets that are as small as one picolitre, which is a thousand times less than a nanolitre.  via R&D Magazine
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Two words:  ray gun.  



9 comments:

Rob Dawg said...

The Fed’s assets rose to a record $3.99 trillion on Dec. 11, up from $2.82 trillion in September 2012, when it embarked on a third round of bond buying. Fed policy makers meet today and tomorrow to decide whether to start curtailing the $85 billion monthly pace of purchases.

More on this at a decent hour. 100% chance of taper by March. That's clear enough. Anyone concerned with December v January v February v March is just looking to game the trade. I feel there are so many traders trying to front run that the results will be counterintuitive.

Cinco-X said...

RD: "Two words: ray gun."

Could be a potential replacement for radiation therapy for cancer. Numerous terahertz sources, but only enough energy for boiling where they're all focused...

Cinco-X said...

MAUBOUSSIN: Investment Results Are Largely About Luck
Examples of the first end of the continuum – pure luck, no skill – could be roulette wheels, lotteries or similar kinds of things. Pure skill, no luck might be running races or a chess match. Almost everything is arrayed somewhere in between. For example, sports like basketball are actually much closer to being all skill. Ice hockey is much closer to being all luck. Thinking about your decisions, the key is to knowing where your activity lies on that continuum.

A lot of investment results – especially in the short-term – are based on luck, but maybe not for the reason that people believe. There is a lot of skill in markets and investors themselves are all very similarly skillful – this is reflected in prices. As a consequence, that leaves more to luck and is the reason why short-term outcomes can mostly be put down to luck.

Rob Dawg said...

Suspend the patient inside spinning rings of terra hertz emitting diodes. Limited by the resolution of imaging the area.

Cinco-X said...

Rob Dawg said...Suspend the patient inside spinning rings of terra hertz emitting diodes. Limited by the resolution of imaging the area.
File now before anyone else reads it...;)

Rob Dawg said...

Kill unwanted hair cells, there might even be a use in popping fat cells in a safe manner. Suturing without needles?

Cinco-X said...

Some awesome ideas... seriously... File!

Rob Dawg said...

Nonsurgical tendon and bone repairs.

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