Category Physics

This is a blue whirl over water in a swirl generator. Credit: Photo: University of Maryland

Findings could lead to better oil spill cleanup. Fire tornados, or ‘fire whirls,’ pose a powerful and essentially uncontrollable threat to life, property, and the surrounding environment in large urban and wildland fires. But now, a team of researchers in the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering say their discovery of a type of fire tornado they call a ‘blue whirl’ could lead to beneficial new approaches for reducing carbon emissions and improving oil spill cleanup. This previously unobserved flame phenomenon burns nearly soot-free.

“Blue whirls evolve from traditional yellow fire whirls...

Artistic image of light trapped on the surface of a nanoparticle topological insulator. Credit: Vincenzo Giannini

New research suggests it is possible to create a new form of light by binding light to a single electron, combining the properties of both. According to the scientists from Imperial College London, the coupled light and electron would have properties that could lead to circuits that work with photons instead of electrons. It would also allow researchers to study quantum physical phenomena.

In normal materials, light interacts with a whole host of electrons present on the surface and within the material. But by using theoretical physics to model the behaviour of light and topological insulators, they have found that it could interact with just one electron on the surface...

This graphic explains novel method for capturing the greenhouse gas and converting it to a useful product — while producing electrical energy. Credit: Cornell University

While the human race will always leave its carbon footprint on the Earth, it must continue to find ways to lessen the impact of its fossil fuel consumption. “Carbon capture” technologies – chemically trapping CO2 before it is released into the atmosphere – is one approach. In a recent study, Cornell University researchers disclose a novel method for capturing the greenhouse gas and converting it to a useful product – while producing electrical energy.

The group’s proposed cell would use aluminum as the anode and mixed streams of CO2 and oxygen as the active ingredients of the cathode...

The entire solar material for the sample with less than or equal to 30 percent selenium is photoactive (top) while the bottom of the solar material for the image below contains greater than 35 percent selenium and has reduced photoactivity. Credit: ORNL

Solar cells based on cadmium and tellurium could move closer to theoretical levels of efficiency because of some sleuthing by researchers at the Dept of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Lab. A team used advanced microscopy to discover efficiency differences of crystalline structures of various mixtures of cadmium, tellurium and selenium. In fact, selenium is an integral part of the formulation that resulted in a world record for solar cell efficiency.

While some of today’s solar cells use a blend of cadmium and tellurium to convert light into el...