The LHC will be a 14 TeV proton-proton collider. High-energy physicists will use to LHC to search for the Higgs particle (or particles), which are thought to explain the origins of mass. It will also be used to search for “supersymmetric” particles and to explore why the universe is made entirely of matter, even though […]
Coronas form when a stream of gas passes between two electrodes maintained at different voltages. The potential difference causes energetic electrons to collide with the gas, producing a glowing plasma that consists of negative ions and radicals. This is a negative discharge corona. However, if dust builds up on the equipment, a positive discharge corona […]
The event is unusual in that the star appears to have been heavy enough – possibly 100 times the mass of the Sun – to collapse back on itself and form a black hole instead of completely blowing apart. Only a few of the hundred million stars in our galaxy are this massive. Measurements made […]
The TIMSS exercise tests students at the end of secondary school education in four subjects: general science, physics, mathematics, and advanced mathematics. But according to Rotberg, only 6 of the 16 countries participating in the physics tests met the international sampling guidelines specified by TIMSS. In general science only 5 out of 21 countries complied […]
The two recent breakthroughs exploit the quantum properties of nuclear spins, which can point “up” or “down” relative to an applied electric or magnetic field. A team of physicists from IBM, Stanford University and MIT in the US used nuclear magnetic resonance to manipulate the spins of hydrogen and carbon-13 nuclei in a chloroform (CHCl3) […]
The British Gelogological Survey registered Monday’s hydrogen explosion at 4.7 on the Richter scale – similar to a light earthquake. But the failure of seismograph stations to register today’s explosions highlights some of the problems with a nuclear test ban. The CTBT says that monitoring stations only need to detect explosions from bombs averaging more […]
Future archaeologists who come across books from our era would, he says, find it difficult to tell the difference between ‘new age’ science books full of “junk science” or those containing scientific fact. This is why Lovelock believes that a well-written record of scientific knowledge designed for an intelligent reader is needed. The book should […]
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The biggest challenge in making a single-molecule device is achieving electrical contact between individual molecules. Now new techniques that vaporize carbon to form nanotubes, and deposit material onto silicon oxide substrates, have made it possible to improve the electrical contact. The Delft team made a three-terminal device consisting of the nanotube and two metal electrodes. […]
The 50 second burst, known as GRB971214, was detected by the two satellites. The Italian/Dutch BeppoSAX satellite gave the precise position of the blast, while NASA’s Compton Gamma Ray Observatory measured its brightness. Further observations at different wavelengths by a collection of ground and space-based telescopes measured the distance to the optical counterpart of the […]
