The Magnus Effect.

 Hello all, and welcome back to yet another lockdown post.

Today we will be looking at a bit of a strange phenomenon called...

The Magnus Effect.

Now, what exactly is the Magnus Effect?

The Magnus Effect, essentially, is a phenomenon in which when, let's say, someone throws a ball from a high altitude (straight down, of course). The air at the front of the ball moves exactly with the spin of the ball, which would be the blue arrow, and the air gets deflected back by the ball's spin. On the other hand, air on the other side of the ball is moving opposite to the ball's spin, so instead of getting deflected, it instead gets seperated from the spin. The net result is when the air that moves with the spin applies any amount of force, the other flow of air applies an equal amount of force in the opposite direction, effectively curving (or arcing) the ball. This creates the Magnus Effect. 

The Magnus Effect works well when applied to sports, like soccer and tennis, in which arcing the ball properly can have great effect to advantage.

On the other hand, this seems like a relatively useless thing for engineering, but it actually does have its uses. Specifically, for boats:

You may be thinking to yourself, "What in all living hell is that?!"

This, my friends, is a rotor boat. Now, these elongated cylinders aren't chimneys, they are effectively sails. These are called rotors (or rotor sails), and they use the Magnus Effect and its fundamentals to propel the boat forward. This is great for a few reasons:

• Diesel use reduction.
• Less pollution.
• Ease of control from sheltered navigation stations.

They are trying to implement this into flight as well, starting from the early 1900s, when someone developed a plane which created more lift than normal, but also more drag, rendering it ineffective. But, someone has started to develop it more efficently, so we might see more of these rotors.

Anyway, that's me.

Stay safe boys,

-M.V

Aerogello.

 Hello all, welcome back to yet another lockdown post.

Today, we'll be looking at a somewhat new material used by a lot of engineers today (specifically NASA engineers), a little thing called Aerogel.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself, what exactly is Aerogel?

Aerogel is a synthetic material that is made by creating a gel, which is made up of a liquid and solid structure, and replacing the liquid in it with a gas without damaging the solid structure of the gel. This results in the creation of a low densile, but solid material with an extremely low thermal conductivity as well.

Now, let's get to the inventive side of Aerogel.

The whole creation of Aerogel was thought up by a guy named Professor Samuel Kistler back in 1931. The idea was brought up when Samuel had a bet with his colleague Charles Learned. It was revolved around jellies, which are made up of about 99% liquid and 1% of a porous 3D skeleton. So, that year, the bet was given; "Could you remove the liquid from the jelly, without damaging the solid structure?".

Now, this wasn't as simple as just evaporating the liquid from the jelly, since that would shrink the solid structure itself, causing the structure to pull in on itself, effectively crumpling it from the inside. Nevertheless, Samuel figured it out. Firstly, he discovered that you could replace a liquid in the jelly with another by thoroughly washing it through, like water to alcohol. Then, by putting the jelly through a machine called an autoclave (which pressurizes the jelly), by pressurizing the jelly liquid to the highest critical point, it transforms into a semi liquid, semi gas solution, effectively replacing the liquid with gas and leaving the solid structure intact.

There are a bunch of materials used that follow the same process, such as:

• Silica
• Alumina
• Chromia
• Tin oxide

Now, in the aerogel, about 99% of it is air, while the rest is that solid structure. This is what makes it so low in density, it's because of that switch from the liquid to gas.

The uses of aerogel are varied, but here's a few:

• Trapping comet particles in space.
• Thermal insulation against the cold on components like electronics.
• Insulation on various life support systems, space shuttles, etc.

Anyway, that's me.

Stay safe boys.

- M.V

Atomic's Inc.

Hello all, back with more convoluted but simple science.

Today is all about everyone's theoretical relative, the atom.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself, what exactly is an atom?

An atom is the tiniest little unit of matter that makes up an element. They are called "The building blocks of the universe.", since all matter contains atoms, meaning that everything has atoms, including humans, animals, the soil of which makes up the earth and the air we breathe. You literally cannot avoid atoms at all, they are there interacting with you without your knowledge (which sounds a bit strange, but you get the point).

In the image above, it shows the buildings blocks which make up an atom. Now, don't get confused. Atoms might be the smallest unit that make up matter, but they're not the tiniest things in science. That title goes to the particles that make up an atom. 

In an atom, there are three main particles that make an atom:

1. Protons
2. Neutrons
3. Electrons

Protons contain a positive electrical charge, Neutrons contain none and Electrons contain a negative electrical charge. Both the protons and neutrons stay in the center of the atom, sitting comfortably and becoming the nucleus, while the electrons move around freely. Now, in a normal diagram of an atom, they are shown to revolve around the nucleus. However, this is just a way to easily represent the electrons and how they work, while in truth, the electrons shoot around freely and move in an uncontrolled fashion. 

Back to charges. An atom usually has no electrical charge since the positive charge of a proton is cancelled out by the negative charge of the electron, and since the neutron has no charge at all, it remains neutral.

Back to electrons. You may not realize how fast electrons travel, but they travel stupid fast, approximately 2,200km/s.

In regards to how much of an atom is empty space, technically speaking, is none. Theoretically speaking, there is no such thing as pure empty space, since electrons fill in that role of filling in that space. But if we're going off of approximate theories, then an atom is filled with about 99.996% empty space (rounding off to three decimal places).

Anyway, that's me.

Stay safe boys.

-M.V

Flat Earth.

 Hello all, I'm back once again.

Today we're going to look at a bit of a polarizing subject, whether or not the earth is flat. 

It's a bit strange to discuss, but let's go;

In case you haven't heard by now, the "Flat-earth Theory" is a belief in which one actually thinks that the earth is indeed, flat. Attempts and reasons to debunk a round earth range from stupendous, like that a typical map of the earth is flat, to absolutely deranged, such as the "Pac-man Effect" (a theory that states why people don't just fall of the end of a flat earth is because once one reaches the edge, they are instantaneously teleported to the other side). Despite substantial evidence towards the contrary, many people are convinced that our planet is not spherical at any point. Hell, some of them have made proper models of what our earth looks like:

So, if you're one of those kin, let me explain why you're wrong:

An excellent video by Kurtis Baute singlehandedly debunks the whole flat-earth conundrum, using a sundial, a bike and an orange. In the video, Kurtis travels to one of the flattest areas on earth, a highway in Regina, Saskatchewan. He sets up an odometer (device for measuring distance in vehicles) on his bike and sets off for 138km towards the, quote un-quote, "nearby" town of Stoughton. He explains along the journey how taking a spherical object, like an orange, and putting two identical sticks through it, that if the sticks are lined up properly, one stick's shadow would be shorter than the other stick. So, if the stick on the right (when looking at it directly) has a short shadow, the one on the left is going to be longer by default. This works with basic shadow physics, where the sun hits on one side of the orange, leaving one of the sticks with a short shadow and the other one with a longer shadow, since not as much of the sunlight is hitting the other side of the orange.

Upon reaching Stoughton, Kurtis sets up a sundial there, while one of his friends sets up a sundial back in Regina. They then measure the shadows at the exact same time (since it's a sundial, duh), Kurtis's being 66.1 cm and his friend's being 70cm exactly, giving it a 3.9cm difference. Since this works the same as the orange and the sticks, it proves that the earth is, in fact, a sphere.

To finish off, he takes the measurements and does some terrifying, complex and outrageous math and determines that the circumference of the earth is about 33,120km. Now, this math is only off by 17% of the actual circumference, which is 40,075km, but the close proximity of math adds up and solves that formulae.

Personally, I don't really have a problem with someone that thinks the earth is flat. Hell, I'm pretty sure my dad thinks it's flat. At the end of the day, everyone has their beliefs, but most can be disproved. Except, the evidence shown, which is substantial, is usually shot down and denied. I think flat earthers are just a bit deranged. Not much, mind, but to shoot something down like pure, tasty scientific evidence is a bit delusional.

Anyway, that's me. Stay safe boys.

- M.V

Astronaut Suit Design.

 Hello all, welcome to another lockdown post.

Today is about an ASTRONOMICAL topic, the design of astronaut suits.

Now, let's get into it.

Essentially, the suit, called the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (or EMU for short), is comprised of an outer and inner layer. 

The inner layer is made of a soft fabric which has tubes weaved through which feed water straight to the astronauts. This is necessary to maintain body temperature as the astronauts work.

The outer layer is comprised of two parts, the leggings and the upper body bit. The upper body unit is a rigid piece, while the leggings remain the same.

That then brings us to the helmet:

The helmet is made up of several (confidential) materials. The yellowish tinted glass is the visor, which helps when dealing with the sun. If more cover is needed, there is an added sunshield that flicks down exactly like the visor.

Now, there's a few reasons why the space suit is needed:

1. The astronauts need oxygen in space, since there's literally nothing in space.

2. They need it to withstand the everchanging temperature in space.

3. They need it to protect themselves from radiation.

The equipment needed for a spacewalk also has to be tethered to the suit itself, so they don't go flying off to kingdom canal.

Safety measures for the astronauts include:

• Various check overs for life support systems and such.
• Communications check.
• Fitting so there is a little bit of pain for extra security.
• Using safety tethers.

Anyway, that's me.

Stay safe boys.

M.V

Prince Rupert's Drop.

Hello all, welcome to my current lockdown post about a little thing called Prince Rupert's Drop.

Basically, Prince Rupert's Drop occurs when molten glass is added to cold water. This creates a little tadpole shaped droplet with a long, skinny tail. 

The interesting part comes with how the glass breaks. When the bulbous part of the glass is hit with anything, from a hammer to a bullet, it will NOT break. However, when the tail is hit, the whole thing will explode into millions, or probably thousands, of tiny little glass specs.

It's a strange phenomenon, so let me explain.

From the moment the molten glass comes into contact with the water, the outer layer of the glass immediately begins to solidify and cool down, whereas the inside will remain hot. As time goes on, the inside will also begin to cool down. The problem is, the outside has already solidified, so instead of coming together as one singular unit, the inside will start to push in against itself and compress. This is where its strength comes from, since the inside cannot push against the outside, causing both to compress inwards. The inside will then harden in this state of high compressive stress.

Now, when the tail bit is cut or hit, the energy stored in the tail will break off down the line, causing the rest of the glass to feed off of that energy and, in result, explode.

The speed of which, also, is about 1900m/s or about 1.9km/s.

Now, if one would like to try it, here's some obvious safety equipment:

- Safety Glasses.

- Closed towed shoes.

- Long Sleeved Shirts.

Alright that's me.

Thanks for reading and stay safe boys.

[insert catchy title here]

     

Hello, it's Mase back with some more Social Studies work. For this task, we were instructed to research about a specific rule coming to lands around the Far North, called the SNA's (significant natural areas). With the SNA, the Far North District Council have imposed specific rules around protecting habitats and species with high ecological value. If a landowner would like to develop or subdivide their land, they need both resource consent from the council and to protect Significant Natural Area, either through fencing or a covenant. There are a few positives to this, including:

- Protection of the environment.

- Control of the environment, including vegetation clearing.

- Cracking down on poachers and such.

But there are a few negatives to this too, like how fencing off and protecting an SNA will have to come out of your own wallet. There is no compensation for protecting the land. And furthermore, it actually just imposes a lot on landowners wanting to develop the land as they will need resource consent.

Overall, I personally think they need to review their rules quite a bit before implementing it.

Well anyways, I hope you enjoy reading this post.

Signing off,

Mase.