Category Archives: Electromagnetism

For green energy, there’s no place like loam

Diagram of PMFC
Diagram by KVDP

Petroleum use is rife with environmental and security issues, and first-generation biofuels fall well short of carbon neutrality. Moreover, as global food crops literally lose ground to biofuel production, mounting scarcity is driving up food prices, increasing global hunger and political instability.

But what if we could have our rice and burn it, too? What if we could derive energy from crops without killing them, or generate power using plants and land not needed for food, all through the power of microbes?

How Plant-microbial Fuel Cells Work

Hypersonic: Don’t believe the hype

Falcon program’s Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle
The DARPA Falcon Project’s Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle

Imagine a Mach-20 aircraft capable of flying coast to coast in less time than it takes a passenger to clear security; now imagine the jet lag to follow. If the idea still sounds appealing, bear in mind that the most recent attempt at such a plane flew right out of its own skin before ditching into the Pacific.

Welcome to the world of hypersonic flight.

Of course, that was a military weapons platform; contrary to what some aircraft manufacturers’ flacks would have us believe, passenger planes are likely to remain subsonic or supersonic for the foreseeable future – and for good reason.

Could You Commute From New York to Los Angeles in 12 Minutes?

Light bulbs: They don’t make ‘em like they used to

Old light bulb
Photo by Jane023

Weekend circulars and hardware store ads tout “long-lasting” light bulbs that burn for 10,000-20,000 hours, but they can’t hold a candle to the subject of this story: a bulb that has shed continuous light for over a century.

What’s the Longest Burning Light Bulb?

Tesla: A mind to light the world

Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla

Thomas Edison has long enjoyed the incandescent light of public admiration and textbook domination while Nikola Tesla, the scientist and inventor who pioneered the alternating current that truly powers the modern world, has unjustly languished as a footnote in scientific history. Farsighted, quirky, driven and brilliant, Tesla frequently leapfrogged ahead of his contemporaries to the next step, and the next.

Over the course of his long career, Tesla registered over 111 American patents and around 300 patents worldwide, including radio and alternating current. He designed the Niagara Falls power station that provided electricity to most of the northeastern United States. But his loyalty to his first loves, science and progress, cost him his fame, his fortune and, some argue, his sanity. These are just a few of the …

10 Reasons Why Tesla is a Scientific God

In a microwave, still waters run deep – and dangerous

Michael Bay's microwave
Tick-tock.

In case you’re wondering, yes, microwaves are magic and, yes, they are trying to kill you. Take that seemingly innocuous cup of water that you just heated for your afternoon tea. Shouldn’t that be bubbling by now? After all, you nuked it for an awfully long time.

Come to think of it, what do you really know about that microwave?

Can Water Explode in a Microwave?