satcharna Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Experimenting with model rockets? I'm not so petty that I'd try to take the credit away from you anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeonG17 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Are you sure about that satcharna? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flymetothemun Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Experimenting with model rockets? I'm not so petty that I'd try to take the credit away from you anyway. Helluva lot better than experimenting with pyrotechnics. I once put the launching tube from a mortar (Thing that flies up and explodes with pretty colors) at about 25-30 degrees off the ground. Let's just say that those colorful skybursts are much bigger than they look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OdinYggd Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 (edited) Experimenting with model rockets? I'm not so petty that I'd try to take the credit away from you anyway. It's a type of engine. Just the chamber on it was leaky, so it was operating at only a fraction of the pressure it needed to make to self-sustain. However ignition took place anyway, and not only did I write in my design log that day that it has potential applications for mosquito control, but after the test it had gotten too hot to touch barehanded. Not bad for only 35 PSI when it should really have been reaching around 160 PSI for proper operation. Lately the progress has stopped again, I've been busy with other things instead of working on it. But I have a good idea now for how to fix the leak and get the chamber pressure up, so it's only a matter of time until I get going with it and it comes to life. You've really sent me for a loop though. I haven't done anything serious with optics since the Photonics course I took in high school, and my certificates from that have long since expired. ...with the doppler cooling effect you are studying, what form does the energy take when it comes out. Could that technology be integrated into a photovoltaic cell such that the PV cell becomes self-cooling to a degree where it no longer gets hot? Or does it only work with the energy intensity of a focused laser beam. Edited June 2, 2013 by OdinYggd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satcharna Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 As it is, we require rather large machinery and a vacuum chamber, and we can only cool a very small condensate. The research is less about useful applications for the cooling method, and more about what happens to extremely cold particles. The intensity required is a fair bit beyond what a photovoltaic cell would be able to provide for, so the method probably isn't all that practical for that specific application, especially as more efficient cooling methods are available for such fields. We use lasers because we need extreme cold, not because they are inherently efficient or such. The way we do it, though, frequency also carries a great deal of weight, though, so I suppose it might be theoretically possible, given an efficient and small enough PV-cell. Engine sounds very interesting, though. One of my latest pet projects involved engines, actually, though nowhere near as advanced as making one entirely from scratch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OdinYggd Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 Yeah. For it to work at that scale the PV substrate would have to be made of a material with a broad spectral response, able to convert most of the wavelengths that are less than ideal for PV conversion into wavelengths that can be while at the same time removing the heat by either re-emitting the excess energy or having it get absorbed into kicking up electrons. Not sure if such a material exists. That and a little googling revealed another group already created a PV cell that reacts to both heat and light, enabling best of both worlds conversions.It does seem like your lab is set up more for theoretical research than any kind of practical stuff though. I'd have to take an idea like that over to Corning Incorporated, since their R&D labs are set up for practical applications development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercy Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Those lasts few posts melted my brain. Making rockets? Experimenting with Lasers?You guys must be smart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rage097 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Those lasts few posts melted my brain. Making rockets? Experimenting with Lasers?You guys must be smart.*dons Cowboy hat like the Texan I am*Ain't you a stranger 'round these here parts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OdinYggd Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 (edited) Those lasts few posts melted my brain. Making rockets? Experimenting with Lasers?You guys must be smart. *turns up Thomas Dolby, right on the Synth part*And no, I am not making a rocket engine. The engine I am designing is meant for much more down to earth purposes, such as cars and lawnmowers. But the basic layout of it could be re-purposed for other things too. Edited June 2, 2013 by OdinYggd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercy Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 *dons Cowboy hat like the Texan I am*Ain't you a stranger 'round these here parts?Maybe, what of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rage097 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 @ mercy: Nuthin' in particular...But i've got my eye on you...*walks off like a Boss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeonG17 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Is it bad if looking at these posts destroys my hope for a career in Science or should I not fully understand it at this point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercy Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 This one time in my Chemistry class my friend chugged a bottle of something marked H2o. It sure as hell wasn't what it said on the label. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OdinYggd Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 Maybe, what of it?Stick around. You might learn a thing or two. Or three.Or four. Or maybe everything, anything, and whatever else we happen to come across.H2O should have been fine, just water. But never ever trust it unless you are certain. Always assume something is either hot, charged, or dangerous in some way unless you know for sure what exactly it is and what its condition is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeonG17 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 In a science practical I had a April fools joke played on me. We were using hydrochloric acid and my friends pretended water was the acid by sticking their fingers in it and pretending it burned. They then proceeded to throw the water at me and I freaked out. Because what else would you do if you think a beaker of hydrochloric acid was thrown at you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercy Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Stick around. You might learn a thing or two. Or three.Or four. Or maybe everything, anything, and whatever else we happen to come across.H2O should have been fine, just water. But never ever trust it unless you are certain. Always assume something is either hot, charged, or dangerous in some way unless you know for sure what exactly it is and what its condition is.Sounds good to me.And yeah we kinda figured that out.... AFTER my friend had coughed up a lung and almost spewed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rage097 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 This one time in my Chemistry class my friend chugged a bottle of something marked H2o. It sure as hell wasn't what it said on the label.He/she did what? Are you kidding? *facepalm* No. I don't believe you. I've seen stupid things but that's just...jeez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeonG17 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Was it clear like water? It could of been a acid like Hydrochloric acid, pH of 1. That would kill you if you drank it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trekkette Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Is it bad if looking at these posts destroys my hope for a career in Science or should I not fully understand it at this point?'Sokay, I was having the same issue. Also, the things I did understand, I knew from watching Big Bang Theory... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeonG17 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 'Sokay, I was having the same issue. Also, the things I did understand, I knew from watching Big Bang Theory...Same here, now I feel the need to look at Wikipedia for the next week or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OdinYggd Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 Especially in a classroom. In a real lab putting the wrong substance in a labelled container is grounds for disciplinary action up to being fired. Classrooms that isn't always the case, and people frequently mix up the contents of the vials unknowingly or in a rush to clean up at the end of the day. My favorite chemistry experiment was Zinc and HCl, bubbled through a water trough into an inverted test tube. The result was a tube full of nearly pure hydrogen gas, which would whistle like a bottle rocket when ignited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercy Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Was it clear like water? It could of been a acid like Hydrochloric acid, pH of 1. That would kill you if you drank it...It was in an opaque bottle, but we think it was just water. Water that had been left in an old container for probably months on end and been touched by hundreds of dirty hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeonG17 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Especially in a classroom. In a real lab putting the wrong substance in a labelled container is grounds for disciplinary action up to being fired. Classrooms that isn't always the case, and people frequently mix up the contents of the vials unknowingly or in a rush to clean up at the end of the day. My favorite chemistry experiment was Zinc and HCl, bubbled through a water trough into an inverted test tube. The result was a tube full of nearly pure hydrogen gas, which would whistle like a bottle rocket when ignited.Ahh, the infamous Squeaky pop test. A interesting experiment I did was burning various alcohols in a sprit burner. But I cant really remember much right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trekkette Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Same here, now I feel the need to look at Wikipedia for the next week or so.I never find Wikipedia helpful. Too much jargon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeonG17 Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 I never find Wikipedia helpful. Too much jargon. So its not a bad thing if you don't fully understand the Wikipedia articles? So far, the internet is the only way to find out more about science. I've got months before I start to learn anything about science again, its just revision for exams now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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