Latest Inventions

posted by admin on Nov 6

There is talk of another attempt to beat the land speed record.

A British team have come up with a car that has the potential to break the current land speed record of 763 miles per hour, held since 1997 by the Thrust SSC (super-sonic car).  And by some way.

The Bloodhound SSC:
Their new vehicle will apparently cover the length of a soccer pitch in the blink of an eye - literally. In one sixth of a second it would have travelled the entire distance at 1.4 times the speed of sound, and it would only take 34 seconds to travel 10 miles…..

Made from carbon fiber and precision made titanium parts, this vehicle will be assisted by not only a Typhoon jet engine, but also a Falcon Solid-Fuel rocket engine and a V12 racing engine.  The jet engine fires first getting the vehicle up to 100mph in 5 seconds, then the rocket engine takes over, powering from 300mph to over 1000mph.

It would have hit the speed of sound at 761mph, so there would have been an ear-shattering sonic boom as the car just kept on accelerating.

After having only traveled just over 1 mile, the record will have been broken and the vehicle will be coming to a stop, with the engines cut, the brakes deployed and the parachute inflated.

Why Do This? 
If successful, this record will also have overtaken the low-altitude flight speed record too - which currently stands at 994mph.

Out of the 109 years the land speed record has been contested, it has been held by the British for 65 of those.

Due to the immense forces of the speed and acceleration, the vehicle needs to withstand more pressure than a submarine - requiring the protection from forces of around 12 tonnes per square meter.  The wheels will be turning a over 10,500 revolutions per minute creating a g-force of around 50,000 times that of gravity.

When Will It Happen? 
Needless to say, the construction of such a precise machine has yet to be authorised, but if allowed, the crew are hoping to begin work next year (2009) and they hope for a world record attempt by 2011.

Who is crazy enough to drive the super sonic machine?  Who has the experience to handle such tough conditions?  Why, Andy Green - the RAF pilot who currently holds the land speed world record of course!

To see The Guardians computer generated video of the Bloodhound in action, go to their site.

posted by admin on Sep 13

Powered by a Hydrogen fuel cell - meet the new Ford Edge.

There is another car on the road that runs off of the same element that keeps the sun shining. So far though, it has only been let out for testing, but the insight is something to really consider.

Without the cylinders and pumps of standard fuel cars, this one is silent. And without the burning of fossil fuels either: this one leaves only water behind - pure enough to drink if you wanted to try it!

Is is truly an Eco Vehicle?
No, not yet. Like all electric and hybrid cars, it is still reliant on fossil fuels and therefore still emits huge amounts of carbon waste at somewhere along the production line. But it opens up hope for the future.

Although it is currently as heavy as some of the larger cars already on the road and still pollutes the atmosphere like all other road users, Ford are looking to the next decade to really make the savings. Apparently, they say, there will be a chain of nuclear power stations creating pollution-free hydrogen that they can use to power their Edge.

10 years is a long time away, but then, it will take that long to build up all the ‘hydrogen service stations’ along interstates and in superstore car parks. You’ll need them, as with a driving range of only 100 miles (225 with over night charging with a lithium-ion battery) you won’t be driving to your destination, you will be driving to the next top-up point!

It seems that some states in the US are already considering this as a viable method, and the state of California has started creating a ‘hydrogen highway’ between it’s 2 main towns to get things started.  But we are still quite some way from this becoming ‘everyday’.

The Future:
Well, thanks to the record-breaking Ford Fusion Hydrogen 999 - which last year (2007) broke the land speed record for a fuel-celled car - they are not letting time or the shortage of fuel get in their way.  Other manufacturers are also in the race to designed the first alternate fuel vehicle for the masses, like BMW.

However, Ford have already started making further improvements and obviously the alternative fuel car that we see in 10 years time on the roads will probably be nothing like the one we see today.   It wasn’t long ago that the first fuel cell ‘car’ was pulling a trailer of hydrogen to gets it’s energy!!!!

Ideas change, technologies change, consumer demands change - but I’m sure that fossils fuels will run out before long, leaving us little choice about hydrogen (and nuclear) as the source of our energy.

Source: The Sunday Times
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posted by admin on Sep 9

CERN are about to launch the biggest invention in physics!

Underground in Europe tomorrow morning, the most powerful atom-smasher ever built will come online.  Scientists worldwide have eagerly awaited this moment for over 20 years.

In the flashes from the collisions, they expect to reproduce conditions that existed during the first billionth of a second after the Big Bang at the dawn of creation.

What happened after the Big Bang?
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, in Geneva, Switzerland, should let scientists get a closer look at the ‘make-up’ of matter.  Hopefully filling in gaps in our existing knowledge - or even coming up at odds to current theory and changing years of belief.

The 17-mile underground tunnel will first be rigorously tested in the first few weeks to test the strength of the world’s largest superconducting magnets as protons are fired around the track.

If all goes to plan, within a month proton beams will be fired off in opposite directions to induce great collisions that should offer insights into particle theory. 

The project has attracted researchers of 80 nationalities, some 1,200 of them from the US, which contributed £295 million of the project’s price tag of nearly £2.3 billion.

There are many other HC across the world, but none so powerful as this.  The CERN collider is designed to push the proton beam close to the speed of light, whizzing 11,000 times a second around the tunnel 150 to 500 feet.

Is it Safe? 
Scientists insist the most powerful particle accelerator ever built is “absolutely safe” although concerns have been voiced.  Some sceptics even fear it could create micro “black holes” and endanger the entire planet as the energies created will be up to seven times greater than any achieved before.

According to many sources, Professor Otto Rossler, a German chemist from a group of scientists mounting a last-minute court challenge to the project, has expressed worries about the creation of black holes.

He, (along with others) believe that microscopic black holes could be generated within the machine curing collisions. But according to CERN’s predictions, they will blink in and out of existence before anything ’scary’ happens.

Apparently, everything they are attempting has happened in nature before, and protons regularly collide in the earth’s upper atmosphere without creating black holes.

The experiments could help scientists find answers to some of the biggest questions in physics, such as why the universe looks the way it does, and how to explain mass, gravity and mysterious “dark matter”.

I look forward to the results - visit the official Latest News Updates

Taken from MSN and LHC UK

posted by admin on Aug 5

Just like out of an old spy movie, the DragonFly - or the DelFly Micro to use it’s technical name - has taken to the skies!

Unveiled by the Delft University of Technology in Holland last month - it is the worlds smallest camera-carrying ultra-miniaturised craft (for now). More commonly called a nano air vehicle (NAV) it is made of ultra-light polymers and carbon fibre - and this one is just 4 inches across and weighs just 0.1oz!

So, this mini beast - about the size of the real insect - can fly through a building or across open spaces, beaming back live pictures of everything it sees. It is remote controlled from miles away, so you may never know it is even watching you or who is controlling it!!!

Should we be excited or frightened?

Excited:
Well, being so tiny and able to record and relay live images from almost anywhere (within their range) they will be able to warn police or the military of any crimes that are being planned or committed.

If the area of possible criminal activity can be scouted out by these little assistants, many crimes could be prevented. Similar, larger technology is already being used by the US military to get images from mountain regions in Afghanistan and Iraq on the front line, and police in the UK to watch over festivals and concerts to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Frightened:
Basically, if the next generation of DelFly machines are as tiny as they are hoping (about 2 inches) then they could be watching over us everywhere.

They have the technology being developed for the tiny robots to run autonomously, being linked to powerful computers that will interpret the images and perform complex calculations to control the little ’spy plane’ without human intervention - recording images the whole time.

They would be able to sneak into buildings without being seen and search for specific items, drawings or people, and then slip away without a trace.

But not just yet!
The technology is still being developed fully - and this mini beast can only actually fly for 3 minutes at the moment, and only moves at 10mph. As it needs to be within a few hundred feet from it’s receivers, this won’t be used for many missions just yet.

However, just like with cell phones in the 70’s - once the basic structure is working, it will definitely be improved upon, and improved again.

So, keep your screen door closed, just in-case………….

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posted by admin on Jul 24

The Exoskeleton is here!!!!!!

No, that’s not the name of the baddie after new Spiderman - it the name of a revolutionary new piece of equipment that could help to improve logistics in difficult areas, and help save lives (and time).

Basically, it is worn by a human being over their clothes (hence the name exo-skeleton) and enhances their muscular ability as the hydraulic motors within the suit react to the body’s current movements - amplifying their effect.

Using this technique it has been reported that the wearer can easily lift around 90kg weights repeatedly without tiring at all.

Who thought of that?
The Research and Development department of Raytheon Sarcos in Salt Lake City started this ball rolling, and are now looking to improve it for use in the military - allowing soldiers to fix heavy machinery in the field and carry supplies or survivors out of danger and maybe over long distances.

President of Raytheon Sarcos also speculates that if these seem as useful as is hoped, they will be commercially available in the near future - they just need to develop a mobile and efficient power source for the suits outside of the labs……….

The future…..
It is quoted by BBC Focus that not only will these be in production later this year - but they are also considering a ‘flying’ version, where a small motor and gliding device are added to the suit…….

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