Electricity & magnetism

Electrical device (437)
Electricity (2009)
Magnetism (133)

Synopsis: Electricity & magnetism:

researcher Rabinowitch and colleagues have been pushing the idea of"potato power  to deliver energy to people cut off from electricity grids.

Hook up a spud to a couple of cheap metal plates, wires and LED bulbs, they argue, and it could provide lighting to remote towns and villages around the world.

all you need is two metals oe an anode, which is the negative electrode, such as zinc,

and a cathode, the positively charged electrode, such as copper. The acid inside the potato forms a chemical reaction with the zinc and copper,

and when the electrons flow from one material to another, energy is released. This was discovered by Luigi Galvani in 1780

But you can put many materials between these two electrodes to get the same effect.

"and we looked at their internal resistance, which allows us to understand how much energy was lost by heat.

reducing resistance and allowing for freer movement of electrons oe thus producing more energy. They also increased the energy output by slicing the potato into four or five pieces,

"It's low voltage energy, Â says Rabinowitch, "but enough to construct a battery that could charge mobile phones

and copper electrodes generates portable energy at an estimated $9 per kilowatt hour, which is 50-fold cheaper than a typical 1. 5 volt AA alkaline cell or D cell battery,

which can cost $49 oe84 per kilowatt hour. It's also an estimated six times cheaper than standard kerosene lamps used in the developing world.

Which raises an important question oe why isn't the potato battery already a roaring success?

With 1. 2 billion people in the world lacking access to electricity, a simple potato could be the answer oe

A zinc electrode that lasts about five months would cost about the same as a litre of kerosene,

You could also use other electrodes, like magnesium or iron. But potato advocates must surmount another problem before their idea catches on:

This outward expression is accompanied by inner physiological changes like lowered blood pressure, reduced skin conductance and nausea.

Takahashi and his team have devised a plan to enable large ships equipped with ocean thermal electric conversion,

and China's Reignwood group recently announced plans to complete a 10 megawatt plant oe the first on the open-ocean oe not far from the Fujian Province in China's southern seas.

For example, at the UK's Peterborough Power station, waste water from a nearby sewage treatment plant is used instead of drinking water.

which often find their solar panels and sensors covered in Martian dust. So, perhaps in the not too distant future, Mars rovers will shake their circuits in a similar way to a dog emerging from a pond.

Power plants to boost our cropsif you have missed my previous two columns, I'm currently looking at the radical technologies

In my next column I'll examine another potential global transformer. I'm loving your fantastic suggestions on the BBC Future Facebook page oe do please keep them coming.

Global transformers: What if a pandemic strikes? Over the past century, humans have been transforming the planet so profoundly that we are pushing it into a new geological era, the Anthropocene (the Age of man.

In my next column I'll examine another potential global transformer. I love your fantastic suggestions on the BBC Future Facebook page oe do please keep them coming.

and form solid plugs when activated by water that seeps in from fine cracks in the material.

At the start of the trial, MRI scans showed patients had an average of 6. 6 active lesions oe scars on the protective layer around nerve cells that disrupt the transmission of electrical messages in the brain and spinal cord.

With the risk of increased antibiotic resistance, an alternative treatment for such everyday infections would be welcome.

While the park is secured by an electric fence on three sides oe those that border the city oe the open end allows wildlife to spill out into Kintengela,

constructed from LED bulbs from broken flashlights, an old car battery, a solar panel, and a motorcycle turning light indicator box.

By rigging the LED bulbs to the motorcycle indicator box, powered by the battery and solar panel,

After a few weeks, he asked his father to help him source a solar panel and car battery,

and, borrowing the wires and motorcycle indicator box, finally struck success."The first time it worked,

and it aims to be 50%cheaper to run than diesel-electrics. And, far from being stuck in the past,

too, might create if not a radically improved steam locomotive, then a better vacuum cleaner, mobile phone, electric plug or car.

planes and power stations to name just a few. Without this"carbon sink  the world's ability to lock up carbon will be reduced

And a magnet such as iron has a critical temperature at which it loses its north and south magnetic poles:

the magnetic poles of its constituent atoms are aligned no longer but become randomised and scrambled by the heat.

For a selection of woodland images, the researchers show that the distributions of light and dark patches have just the same kinds of statistical behaviours as a theoretical model of a two-dimensional magnet near its critical temperature.

So, what are the fundamental patterns from which these images are composed? When the researchers looked for the most common types of pixel patches oe for example,

while even further into the future are the prospects of electric, hydrogen or even solar powered aircraft.

and solar panels would be used to generate electricity, while also drawing tourists. The idea drew a standing ovation,

and gas pipelines and electricity towers to extract concessions from the central government. Other talks also outlined seemingly practical solutions for the country's future.

aerials made from all manner of implements; and houses constructed out of old boat sails, rice sacks and plastic drinks bottles.

which have heat-sensitive condensers deliberately fitted onto the circuit board next to a heat sink connected to the transistors,

and spare parts users need to fix their own electrical devices. They are contributing to a cultural shift in perception,

Finally, there is the problem of insecticide resistance. Even DDT, the supposed miracle cure, wasn't immune to this.

No chemical insecticide is immune to resistance, particularly if it is overused. Today, roughly 90%of bed bugs have a genetic mutation that makes them resistant to pyrethroids,

In recent years there have been attempts to remove the carbon dioxide from its source in power plants.

Removing this pollution from power plants oe called carbon capture and storage oe is a useful way of preventing additional carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere as we continue to burn fossil fuels.

In a power plant chimney, for instance, carbon dioxide is present at concentrations of 4-12%within a relatively small amount of exhaust air.

the milk has to be cooled oe easier said than done in areas with intermittent or no electricity.

and keep it Cool it's a system that requires a constant electrical power, either from the grid or from a diesel generator backup.

India's electricity grid is kind of like the sun, White explains. You get electricity every day,

but it's sporadic. So, we ditched solar and started focusing on ways to capture those eight to 10 hours you get,

 But this battery doesn't store electricity. Instead, it is a thermal battery that can"store cold Â. White won't go into great detail about the battery's design,

as well as basic requirements like clean water provision, toilets, electricity, internet access, and creature comforts like cars, air conditioning, refrigerators, washing machines  the list is endless.

and to provide electricity by passing falling water through turbines. Environmental losstwo-thirds of the world's major rivers have now been disrupted with more than 50,000 dams in an attempt to store water

rather than directly improving electricity access to locals oe versus the local environmental and social damage caused by its construction.

and if they get a share of the dam's benefits, through electricity provision, for example,

A customized external motion-detecting device with a USB plug turns peoples'ordinary desktops into automated earthquake detectors.

lower disease resistance, stunt growth and even cause blindness, which greatly increases a person's risk of death in the developing world.

They do it by bringing electronic tools into their crop rows-global positioning systems, infrared devices that measure soil's electrical conductivity and light and sound sensors.

known as the Caltech team, can attach electrodes to your brain that lets you move a mouse cursor with your thoughts.

electrical brain waves can be detected (via EEG). This can either mean that the brain isnt killed by the deep freeze

implanting electrodes with the aim of creating robotlike killers. The robo-men would be easy to control, mentally superior and without a smidgen of remorse or emotion the perfect soldier.

Thomas Edisons Magnetic brain experiment using a Young Boy Thomas Edison picked a boy off the street

and ran electromagnetic fluctuations directly through is brain to research effects. This was completely normal and ethical behavior to Edison.

000 tries to find 1 solution approach he used on the light bulb. http://xenophilius. wordpress. com/2010/09/29/thomas-edisons-magnetic-brain-experiment/15.

and the electric chainsaws used to trim the trunks. Its easy to forget that along with the carbon footprint of the trees themselves

Besides the electromagnetic fields created by mobile-phone networks and wireless LANS, ultrafine particles emitted by cars

This revelation was arrived at over a period of 15 years by teams of researchers from seemingly disparate fields who have used classical genetic studies to unravel the mysteries of disease resistance in plants and animals

who was a co-recipient of the 2008 U s. Department of agricultures National Research Initiative Discovery Award for work on the genetic basis of flood tolerance in rice. oesome of the resistance mechanisms that researchers will discover will likely serve as new

Their overview in Science includes illustrated descriptions of the disease-resistance or immunity pathways in the mouse, Drosophila fruit fly,

In addition to Graham, authors on the paper include Adam Hayward, Kathryn Watt, Jill Pilkington, Josephine Pemberton and Daniel Nussey, all of the University of Edinburgh.

A laptop with built-in solar panels! oeicomix: Records your progress playing a video game, then creates a custom comic book of your experience oeidim:

This idea would bring the Magsafe plugs Apple uses on Macs to portable devices oeimassivemysterydock:

the information could help farmers better identify genetic variations responsible for disease resistance, drought tolerance and yield.

and tested for the presence of proteins that could give it resistance to either of the herbicides.

But those that have evolved resistance to both herbicides could become a weed problem for farmers,

The ministry even warned that their electricity would be shut off, if necessary. The goal of the factory closings is oeto enhance the structure of production,

announced last Friday that it had forced 22 provinces to halt their practice of providing electricity at discounted prices to energy-hungry industries like aluminum production.

Power plants burned more coal to generate enough electricity to meet demand. As China has become increasingly dependent on imported oil and coal

Many Sun Belt cities, long magnets for job seekers from economically depressed areas, have joined long-suffering Rust Belt areas as places with the highest unemployment rates.

There is also no electricity, no toilet and no running water for the five people who live in this mosquito-infested hut in Bamako, the capital of Mali.

Yahoo and Microsoft have been engaged in a mad dash to find spots in the US that have plenty of electricity and land.

and India that need to find an economical way to power their computing centers. oethe average cow makes enough waste per day to power a 100-watt light bulb,

and resolved in particular concerning biological contamination and weed resistance development. Agriculture Law reports that the district court agreed with the plaintiffs that the environmental assessment undertaken by the USDA was inadequate

DEVICE WORKS ON SOLAR POWER The system is suitable in areas where there is no electricity supply

because it can be powered by a simple solar panel that generates five volts of energy, he said. oeit is a simple technology

the electrical and electronics engineering student said, calling it a oeplug and play device. The device still has to go through a vetting

Computers, cellular networks and data centers are connected to the destruction of over 600 square miles of forest in the U s. because of their ravenous consumption of electricity.

Greenpeace estimates that by 2020 data centers will demand more electricity than is demanded currently by France

According to the U s. Department of energy, the electricity consumed by data centers in the United states doubled from 2000 to 2006, reaching more than 60 billion kilowatt hours per year,

roughly equal to the amount of electricity used by 559,608 homes in one year. According to the EPA that number could double again by 2011.

Can you imagine harnessing sufficient quantities of solar power to supply electricity to cities in Africa and cities in Europe?

Charlie Paton, Michael Pawlyn and Bill Watts can and whats more they can imagine all these happening in the same place at the same time.

an engineer Bill Watts of Max Fordham & Partners, an engineering firm that focuses on energy efficient systems for the built environment.

It has been proposed that the energy created by CSP in the Sahara could be transported to Europe with minimal loss via high voltage DC power lines.

and therefore operate more efficiently. 3. In solar thermal power plants, only about 25%of the collected solar energy is converted into electricity.

If combined with sea water another 50%of the collected energy, normally released as heat,

and all the houses run on solar heat and electricity. Teniqua Treetops South africas Teniqua Treetops may not be as massive as the Ariau Amazon Towers,

theres no electricity, and only one of the rooms has a flush toilet (the rest are oedrop toilets).

said Smith. oethe debate would just be how long. oeimagine a long fuse burning and then KABOOM!

Maybe angiosperms were in that fuse state, said Donoghue. oebut its hard to imagine flowering plants would have had a big impact on the origin of major insect groups

allowing it to process transactions more elaborately and securely than magnetic strip cards. Stored value card:

By 2050, electric power generation overtakes road transportation as the biggest promoter of warming. The industrial sector likewise jumps from the smallest contribution in 2020 to the third largest by 2100. oethe differences are

Education and Economics. oethis important research will help scientists develop switchgrass varieties that are more suitable for bioenergy production by identifying the genetic basis for traits such as disease resistance, drought tolerance and the composition

But the smaller genome of brachypodium makes it easier to find genes linked to specific traits, such as stem size and disease resistance.

000 to pay signature gatherers for a November initiative aimed at delaying curbs on the greenhouse gas emissions of power plants and factories until the states unemployment rate drops.

Large costs foisted on an unemployment-riddled state economy and increased electricity rates...are not affordable at this time, if ever.

The report said the initiative would invalidate a Schwarzenegger executive order requiring that a third of all retail electricity sellers get their power from renewable sources by 2020.

Analysis Reveals Pathways for Improving Biodiesel, Disease Resistance, and Reducing Waste Runoff Soybean, one of the most important global sources of protein and oil, is now the first legume species with a published complete draft genome sequence.

Of additional importance for soybean farmers is that the genome sequence has provided access to the first resistance gene for the devastating disease Asian Soybean Rust (ASR.

Their reluctance to export enough to meet global demand has touched off a worldwide hunt for new sources with promising finds being uncovered in Canada, Argentina, South korea, and California.

which enables users to accept credit card payments by using a portable card-reader device that plugs in to iphone, ipad or Android devices.

Google CEO Larry page sees himself as the next great visionary, following in the footsteps of Steve jobs, Nikola Tesla,

or electric vehicles. It will be self-driving cars, and the adoption of this technology will change virtually everything in the field of transportation planning.

In this competition, 4 driverless electric vans successfully drove from Italy to China, arriving at the Shanghai Expo on October 28, 2010.

All Apples stores now carry the Withings Blood pressure monitor, a peripheral device that plugs into the ipad,

This toxin can be deadly on its own or lower a turkey s resistance to other infections and cause death that way.

Mass Energy Storage Developers As a society, we have become very good at generating electricity,

what s described as a magnetic tongue#that could allow factories to monitor and improve the flavor of tinned tomatoes during the canning process#Using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy,

He also formed a partnership with the Southern Co. to build a 364-acre solar site in New mexico that produces 30 megawatts at times of peak sunlight,

They use copious amounts of electricity, of course, and they use building materials that earth-based farms do not (Is the total material used more than traditional farms?

However, even if theyre using coal-fired electricity to power their lights, I think thats only a temporary restraint.

Meanwhile, traditional videogame powerhouses like Electronic arts and Nintendo have seen revenues stagnate and fall. The best new movie production company in many decades, Pixar, was a software company.

The trend toward hybrid and electric vehicles will only accelerate the software shift#lectric cars are controlled completely computer.

The little man himself reports#The tree design made 20%more electricity and collected 2 1/2 more hours of sunlight during the day.

The tree design made 50%more electricity, and the collection time of sunlight was up to 50%longer!#

#Many wealthy people are little more than the conductors of their own possessions...If life treats you like a silhouette,

electricity rose 11.7 percent and gasoline 9. 3 percent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

#Rather, than discouraging graffiti, these walls will become a magnet for it. If you can imagine parents bringing their kids with a few buckets of paint for an afternoon of entertainment,

The electrical gadget, which looks like a shoe tree, is slipped simply into the shoe and turned on at the mains before blitzing the smell awa. y The makers claim the average person produces up to half a pint of sweat per foot each day,

its the beans we grow as dried beans that are real nutritional powerhouses. Dry beans, in general, are high in iron, fiber, manganese, and phosphorous.

The Obama administrations plan to convert all gas-guzzling stoves to electric...Come on hare! You big-eared dumb-ass fuzz-ball!

and Mennonites because they dont expect resistance. But when Nolt was taken to magistrate court, he refused to enter a plea because,

Nolts resistance, which has been documented well, has earned him a rather grand moniker: the Rosa parks of the farmers rights movement.#

Food safety advocates are concerned about overuse of drugs in dairy cows (and increased antibiotic resistance in humans),

There is growing concern among health care experts and policy makers about antibiotic resistance and the rise of superbugs,

particularly when you consider that we are facing a crisis in our hospitals and health systems with the increasing resistance to antibiotics,

(or 20,000 heads per year) grown under 40 watt fluorescent lighting housed in a chrome housing that can be stored conveniently in any restaurant.

Obviously, shining twelve 40 watt bulbs on a shelf of seeds isn t the most efficient way to grow veggies,

and you would have some idea of Apple s reluctance to let anyone outside of its walls fool with any of its technology.

or an electrician or have a store. People are fine here because we are very self-sufficient,

this is a kitchen appliance that heats food by a dielectric heating process in which radiation is used to heat the polarized molecules in food.

#Global manufacturing is changing with a new wave of robots At the new Tesla factory in Fremont, Calif,

an electrical engineer who manages the Philips assembly line in Drachten. Many industry executives and technology experts say Philips s approach is gaining ground on Apple s. Even as Foxconn,

#Beyond the technical challenges lies resistance from unionized workers and communities worried about jobs. The ascension of robots may mean fewer jobs are created in this country,

Take the cavernous solar-panel factory run by Flextronics in Milpitas, south of San francisco. A large banner proudly proclaims Bringing Jobs & Manufacturing Back to California!#(

#Right now China makes a large share of the solar panels used in this country and is automating its own industry.)

threading wires and screwing a handful of fasteners into a simple frame for each panel.

Witness the factory of Tesla Motors, which recently began manufacturing the Tesla S, a luxury sedan, in Fremont, Calif.,on the edge of Silicon valley.

More than half of the building is shuttered, called the dark side.##It still houses a dingy, unused Toyota corolla assembly line on which an army of workers once turned out half a million cars annually.

The Tesla assembly line is a stark contrast, brilliantly lighted. Its fast-moving robots, bright Tesla red, each has a single arm with multiple joints.

Most of them are imposing, 8 to 10 feet tall, giving them a slightly menacing Terminator#quality.

in the new Tesla factory a robot might do up to four: welding, riveting, bonding and installing a component.

Tesla s factory is tiny but represents a significant bet on flexible robots, one that could be a model for the industry.

and fewer people than the big factories of their competitors and with the same flexibility as Tesla s, said Paul Chau,

and darting electric vehicles as workers with headsets are directed to cases of food by a computer that speaks to them in four languages.

and innovation,#said Ian Maw, vice president for food, agriculture and natural resources at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities in Washington, D c. At traditional agriculture powerhouses such as Penn State,

#Hydrovolts tap canal currents for 12 kw of power apiece Powerful new power options. Irrigation canals are the blood vessels of agriculture,

Pretty soon, they may well deliver a bit of electricity too, thanks to the Hydrovolt micro-generator.

these devices can produce up to 12 kw of energy apiece#ot enough to power a grid,

If successful, the bureau may begin installing them along its 130,000 miles of canals to produce megawatts of power.

While the short term memory in the venus fly trap is based electricity, much like neural activity,

But the technology wasn t an immediate success. Another 40 years later the electric utilities were stable and profitable businesses.

because the utilities created other reasons to use electricity. They found a lot of uses for electric motors

and the electric toaster and electric curling iron were invented. They also built Coney island. And they installed electric streetcars lines in towns.

All of these other gadgets gave us the light bulb. We tend to rewrite the histories of technological innovation,

it s easy to write off some modern energy innovations#like solar panels #because they haven t hit the big time fast enough.

and it s awesome. 1. Electric Clothes Physicists at Wake Forest University have developed a fabric that doubles as a spare outlet.

#or even your pillowcase or office chair#it converts subtle differences in temperature across the span of the clothing (say, from your cuff to your armpit) into electricity.

According to the program s manager, Dr. Matt Goodman, an electric field destabilizes the flame s underlying structure rather than blanketing the fire to smother it.

Texas wind farms produce more than 10,000 megawatts of electricity, more than double the capacity of the nearest state, Iowa,

and they also have sensed strong*magnetism nearby. Voyager measurements are relatively local to the spacecraft, however.

climate changes, strange animal die offs and the quickly moving magnetic poles. Don t forget, we re also experiencing a great culmination of cycles called the Harmonic Convergence as we line up with the Galactic center

including high blood pressure and insulin resistance, that raise heart disease risk. Although no one can say the nation s rising obesity rate is to blame for the prevalence of autism,

and insulin resistance can have health consequence for mothers and fetuses, #Gardener told Reuters Health.

and E coli) have developed a resistance to available antibiotics. In the end, the new corporate structure of our food system has cheapened our diets in a way the world has seen never.

Increasing composting could boost soil health and drought resistance, while also easing the burden on landfills and reducing decomposition of garbage into greenhouse gas methane.

and farming in the U s. Monsanto acknowledges it thought weeds would never develop resistance to Roundup.

and how Monsanto managed to brush the resistance issue aside: In 1993, when Monsanto asked the U s. Department of agriculture to approve Roundup-tolerant soybeans,

It told the agency that glyphosate is considered to be a herbicide with low risk for weed resistance.#

#The company also wrote that several university scientists agreed that it is highly unlikely that weed resistance to glyphosate will become a problem as a result of the commercialization of glyphosate-tolerant soybeans.#

Since then, resistance to glyphosate has emerged in 20 different weed species. So, the company that helped make glyphosate so prevalent on American farms (it was used on 91 percent of U s.-grown cotton, for example, in 2007),

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