How to extend your smartphone’s battery life

While advances in material science and energy efficiency are being made every day, it is relatively easy to forget about some of the simple day-to-day tips and tricks to make sure your most necessary gadget keeps going as long as you do. The latter quote was shared by Emily Price and the following article that originally appeared on Tecca on Dec 16th. It’s a well worthwhile read (modestly abridged)…

"No matter what type of smartphone you have, the device can serve as your MP3 player, digital camera, gaming system, and even your TV while you're out and about — as long as you have battery power. If it seems like smarter phones are getting less life out of their batteries... you're absolutely right. Smartphones can help you get a lot done while traveling, but if you're doing a lot on one in a day, you're apt to see your screen go dark long before the sun goes down.

Watching out for a few small things during your day, however, can help extend battery life on your trusty device and make sure you've got enough juice to make it all day and well into the night.

Mixed signals
It takes extra juice for your smartphone to search for a data connection. If you're somewhere where you won't get a signal, like an airplane or subway, putting your phone in airplane mode or turning it off altogether will prevent it from draining your battery. Turning your phone on does require a bit of extra power, so it's best to save shutting it off for times when you plan to leave it off for a while, rather than something like a 20-minute subway ride to work in the morning. Thinking of it as car mode or subway mode instead of airplane mode might just be the mental trick you need!

Likewise, turn off wifi when you don't need it. When it's active, your phone scans for available wifi connections constantly, which kills battery life. If you're using the wifi in a coffee shop or bookstore, remember to disable that connection when you're done to avoid draining your battery while you're on the road.

Focus on the task at hand
Sure, you can have your email open, search for directions to a local restaurant, watch a video on YouTube, and play Angry Birds at the same time — but chances are you're really only focused on one of those tasks. Everything you have open on your phone is using some amount of battery power. Try to focus on doing just one thing at a time on your phone, and close unnecessary applications to keep them from draining your battery. Things like your GPS and the bluetooth connection you use to connect to your hands-free device in the car gobble up a ton of battery power and are of no use to you unless you're doing a few specific tasks.

Bright future
Bright screens look great but are a huge drain on your phone's battery. To stretch your phone's life, go into the controls or settings and dim the backlight or brightness of your screen. While the dimmest setting might be difficult to read (especially if you're somewhere brightly lit), something toward the middle will extend your battery life without putting too much strain on your eyes. If your phone has an auto-brightness option, using that can be a one-step solution to balancing battery life and ease of reading. Along those same lines, try to avoid using animated backgrounds on your phone.

Bad vibrations
It takes more battery power for your phone to vibrate than it does to ring. While you absolutely want to have your phone on vibrate (or turned off) when you're at a movie or in a meeting, keeping your ringer on at other times can help extend battery life.

Mandatory nap time
Just as you would with a toddler, the easiest way to make sure your smartphone's battery lasts all night is to give it a nap at some point during the day. If you're headed into a meeting for a few hours, turn off your phone and leave it in your desk. Likewise, if you're out to dinner with close friends or on a date, turn off your phone and focus on your companions."

Changing habits isn`t easy, especially with the connectivity to friends, family, information and fun at your fingertips. Many of the suggested approaches in Price`s article aren`t difficult to apply. Try it, you might like it.

Emily Price`s original article can be found by clicking on http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/extend-smartphone-battery-life-205036133.html

Until soon… Ian

New Material Cools Under Pressure… Like me - Ha!

As mentioned last week, here's another prompt from ScienceDaily.com...The search for materials showing large caloric effects close to room temperature has become a challenge in modern materials physics and it is expected that such a class of materials will provide a way to renew present cooling devices. Up to now, the most promising materials are giant magnetocaloric materials, which the hope of possibility using them for refrigeration. For some of you who may not be familiar with the term magnetocaloric effect, some magnetic materials heat up when they are placed in a magnetic field and cool down when they are removed from a magnetic field. This effect was discovered by E. Warburg in 1881 in pure iron. The size of the effect has been around .5 to 2°C per Tesla change in magnetic field. Recently, alloys of gadolinium, germanium and silicon have produces a much larger effect size of 3 to 4°C per Tesla change.

But there are also materials that demonstrate a barocaloric effect. The barocaloric effect refers to the change in temperature produced in a material by the application of hydrostatic pressure. Most objects heat up when compressed and cool down when decompressed, but some solids display the opposite behaviour: their temperature decreases when they are compressed and increases when they are decompressed (essentially an inverse barocaloric effect). The barocaloric effect can be found in many rare-earth compounds, which may open the way to novel techniques which are based on the application of external pressure rather than on the application of large external magnetic fields as needed for cooling by the magnetocaloric effect.

An international research initiative has recently identified a new material that exhibits an inverse barocaloric effect at room temperature. The study was carried out within the framework of Barcelona Knowledge Campus, and led by a team from the University of Barcelona. Collaborative contributions were made by researchers from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, BarcelonaTech, the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) and the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. The new material apparently exhibits a substantial change at moderate pressures: its temperature drops by 1ºC for each additional 1 kbar of pressure.

The material developed during the study is an intermetallic compound of the magnetocaloric metals lanthanum, iron, silicon and cobalt (La-Fe-Si-Co), which change temperature when an external magnetic field is applied. The Team believes that the temperature change brought about by moderate pressures is of sufficient magnitude to be considered for use in environmentally respectful refrigeration systems. In addition, the fact that it responds to two types of external stimulus -- magnetic fields and pressure -- would allow for the design of devices that apply these stimuli simultaneously to obtain higher levels of performance.

The research team believes that the inverse barocaloric effect is created by a phase transition in the material below a given temperature, which leads to changes in its structural and magnetic properties.

If you would like to read more, just click on http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221105643.htm

Until soon…. Ian

New Metal Hydride Clusters Provide Insights Into Hydrogen Storage

As you`ll see over the next couple of articles, I have rediscovered the many wonders published on ScienceDaily.com. This site has a wide range of the latest advances in Energy & Matter, Health & Medicne, and more. One can quickly uncover all kinds of treats on the ScienceDaily site, like the recent development at Japan`s RIKEN Advanced Science Institute (ASI), where researchers have shed first-ever light on a class of heterometallic molecular structures whose unique features point the way to breakthroughs in the development of lightweight fuel cell technology. I`m not sure where the hydrogen economy is heading… or not, but it definitely needs advances in the materials engineering to bring it along.

RIKEN is a large research institute, founded in 1917, which now has approximately 3000 scientists on seven campuses across Japan. RIKEN conducts research in many areas of science, including physics, chemistry, biology, medical science, engineering and computational science, and ranging from basic research to practical applications. It is almost entirely funded by the Japanese government, and its annual budget is approximately ¥88 billion (US$760 million).

Researchers at RIKEN have recently describe structures that contain a previously-unexplored combination of rare-earth and d-transition metals ideally suited to the compact storage of hydrogen.

Hydrogen, as you know, is the most abundant element in the universe, and has been touted with great promise as a source of clean, renewable energy, producing nothing but water as a by-product and thus avoiding the environmental dangers associated with existing mainstream energy sources. Broad adoption of hydrogen, however, has stalled because in its natural gaseous state, the element simply takes up too much space to store and transport efficiently.

One way to solve this problem is to use metal hydrides that is metallic compounds that incorporate hydrogen atoms, as a storage medium for hydrogen. In this technique, the metal hydrides bind to hydrogen to produce a solid one thousand times (or more) smaller than the original hydrogen gas. The hydrogen can then later be released from the solid by heating it to a given temperature.

As reported on ScienceDaily,`The new heterometallic hydride clusters synthesized by the RIKEN researchers use rare-earth and d-transition metals as building blocks and exploit the advantages of both. Rare earth metal hydrides remove one major obstacle by enabling analysis using X-ray diffraction, a technique which is not feasible for most other metal hydrides -- offering unique insights into underlying reaction processes involved. Rare earth metal hydrides on their own, however, do not undergo reversible hydrogen addition and release, the cornerstone of hydrogen storage.

While rare-earth / d-transition metal-type metallic hydride complexes have been studied in the past, the current research is the first to explore complexes with multiple rare earth atoms of the form Ln4MHn and with well-defined structures (Ln = a rare-earth metal such as yttrium, M = a d-transition metal, either tungsten or molybdenum, and H = hydrogen).

In a paper in Nature Chemistry, the researchers show that these complexes exhibit unique reactivity properties, pointing the way to new hydrogen storage techniques and promising environmentally-friendly solutions to today's pressing energy needs.

If you would like to read more about these developments, just click on http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110922093721.htm

NBC News, NBC Sports and NSF Launch ‘Science of NHL Hockey’

Our friends at NBC Learn and the NBC Sports Group have done it again, this time teaming up with the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Science Foundation (NSF) to release Science of NHL Hockey, a 10-part video series that explore the science behind Canada’s favourite game. [I say “hook those kids to science early – although in the sport itself, ‘hooking’ will see you in the penalty box for two minutes. The world of science and engineering won’t.]

This series, along with its siblings Science of NFL Football and Science of the Olympic Winter Games collections, which are part of an ongoing Science of Sports collaboration with the NSF that was awarded a 2010 Sports Emmy for ‘Outstanding New Approaches Sports Programming’ (RMApps May 16th, 2011). Essentially made for students and teachers to use in the classroom, the videos will be aligned to lesson plans and national state education standards, and are available to the public cost-free on NBCLearn.com, NBCSports.com and Science360.gov.

The Science of NHL Hockey videos will apparently debut this weekend, during the 2012 NHL All-Star Weekend from Ottawa (Jan 26th-29th), with a select number of videos airing throughout the Honda SuperSkills Competition on Saturday, Jan 28th. The NHL will also feature the videos on NHL.com, NHL Network in the United States and Canada and in a number of arenas throughout the league.

This collaboration between NBC Learn, NBC Sports and NSF uses the appeal of hockey to drive an understanding of complicated scientific concepts. Students and teachers see how the principles of science enable players to perform actions such as quickly stopping on ice, passing the puck to a teammate, shooting a slap shot and making a great save.

The science is broken down by capturing the athletes' movements with a state-of-the-art, high-speed Phantom camera, which has the ability to capture movement at rates of up to 10,000 frames per second. These dynamic visuals allow for frame-by-frame illustrations of specific scientific principles such as Newton's Three Laws of Motion, kinematics and velocity. Other video episodes analyze the hockey science behind reflexes and reaction time, statistics, vectors, linear motion, geometry and more.

In each video, an NSF-supported scientist explains a selected scientific principle, while NHL athletes describe how the principle applies to their respective positions. The videos also include actual game footage provided by the NHL, and the lesson plans that accompany the videos will be provided by the National Science Teachers Association.

The original News Release can be found at
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=122964&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click

Until soon… Ian

Researchers develop fluoride-based rechargeable batteries

Who can keep up some days… There is almost an article a minute on the attributes and dangers of lithium batteries, the surplus or shortage of supply, and as many around the potential solutions to mitigate any risks. These are only complimented by reports on competing energy storage platforms… and here`s one that I just came across. It`s a couple of months old…sorry!

As reported on theengineer.co.uk and sciencedaily.com in October, researchers at Germany`s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) believe they have developed a new concept for rechargeable batteries.
This new technology platform is based on a fluoride shuttle — the transfer of fluoride anions between the electrodes. It is reported to enhance the storage capacity reached by lithium-ion batteries by several factors. It is claimed that operational safety is also increased, as it can be done without lithium. It was published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry.

It is understood that metal fluorides may be applied as conversion materials in lithium-ion batteries. They also allow for lithium-free batteries with a fluoride-containing electrolyte, a metal anode, and metal fluoride cathode, which reach a much better storage capacity and possess improved safety properties.
The concept of using metal fluorides was developed by and Dr Munnangi Anji Reddy at the KIT Institute of Nanotechnology (INT). Instead of the lithium cation, the fluoride anion takes over charge transfer. At the cathode and anode, a metal fluoride is formed or reduced.

Lithium-ion batteries are applied widely, but their storage capacity is limited. In the future, battery systems of enhanced energy density will be needed for mobile applications in particular. As Dr. Maximilian Fichtner, head of the KIT`s Energy Storage Systems Group noted, ’As several electrons per metal atom can be transferred, this concept allows extraordinarily high energy densities to be achieved — up to 10 times as high as those of conventional lithium-ion batteries’. It would then seem logical that such batteries can store more energy at reduced weight.

As with most science, there is still much engineering work to be done to bring a theoretical or lab tested innovation to market. The KIT researchers are now working on the further development of material design and battery architecture in order to improve the initial capacity and cyclic stability of the fluoride-ion battery. Apparently, another challenge lies in the further development of the electrolyte. The solid electrolyte applied so far is suitable for applications at elevated temperatures only. It is therefore aimed at finding a liquid electrolyte that is suited to use at room temperature.

If you like to peruse the original articles, or any of its other science coverage, just click on http://www.theengineer.co.uk/sectors/energy-and-environment/news/researchers-develop-fluoride-based-rechargeable-batteries/1010682.article or http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111021125521.htm

Until soon… Ian

Is it safe to wear sunscreen?

T’was the night before heading off on winter vacation – be it heading south to a beach or to the snowy ski hills-- and all through the house, folks were a stirring, asking  “T’will it better to apply sunscreen or not?”

While zinc is not technically a rare metal, RMApps’ penchant for all things rare metal-ish, medical and related to health & safety, Eileen De Guire’s piece in CeramicTechToday.com (Dec 2nd) on ZnO sunscreen definitely caught eye.

Science seemed to have proven the long-term benefits of using sunscreens. Zinc oxide is the active ingredient in today’s commercial sunscreens. Thanks to its high optical absorption in both UVA and UVB ranges, it provides very effective protection for the skin from sun damage. The ZnO particles in these applications are nanosize, with an average size of less than 20 nm.

Nanoparticles that are on the surface or the uppermost layer of skin are not known to be toxic. However, according to a paper recently published in the open access journal, Biomedical Optics Express, deeper layers of the skin are “susceptible to toxicological hazards associated with extraneous nanomaterials,”
Australian and Swiss universities recently described a quantitative microscopy method for imaging nanoparticle distribution and uptake in human skin, while the debate on the specific toxicity of nanoscale ZnO continues among researchers. The research team turned to nonlinear optical microscopy (‘NLOM’) to image ZnO nanoparticle uptake in human skin. NLOM apparently provides high-contrast images and, because it is noninvasive, it can be used for in vitro (i.e. outside the living body and in an artificial environment) and in vivo (i.e. in the living body of a plant or animal) studies.

NLOM imaging is based on the principle of two-photon-absorption-induced photoluminescence. A laser beam scans axially through the sample, which elicits “two types of nonlinear optical interactions” at the focal volume. A light-induced variation in refractive index occurs and produces a detectable lensing effect. Sounds complicated... you’re correct, but it is reflective of some of the new science of nanoscience and nanotechnology applications.

The Australian/Swiss researchers studied human skin samples treated with a commercial sunscreen, Zinclear, with a mean particle size of 21 nm. Results showed that ZnO nanoparticles were found only on the skin surface and in skin folds. No detectable amounts were found in the deeper layers of the skin. The paper goes into depth on the physics of two-photon absorption, ZnO nanoparticle photoluminescence and the ways in which the ZnO nanoparticle distribution varies depending on the sunscreen solvent used. The bottom line… you should wear sunscreen.

And for those specifically interested in rare earths and sunscreens, it is understood that some years back (ref: Rare-earth Information Center Insight, 2001a), researchers developed a process that enabled cerium dioxide to be used as a sunscreen. The process apparently coated the cerium dioxide particles with a 10 nanometer layer of boron nitride which eliminated agglomeration, passivated the cerium catalytic activity, and produced a slippery feel. When incorporated into an organic thin film, the coated cerium particles had higher transparency and greater UV blocking than either titanium dioxide or zinc oxide, the commonly used sunscreen ingredients. The improved sunscreen reportedly reduced sunburn, reduced skin aging, and reduced the potential causes of skin cancer.

If you would like to read Eilene De Guire’s article, just click on http://ceramics.org/ceramictechtoday/2011/12/02/is-it-safe-to-wear-sunscreen-mapping-zno-nanoparticles-in-human-skin/

Until soon… Ian

Can Superman see through superconductors?

It`s a New Year and we're just coming off a delightful break (.. to be read as Ì worked from home rather than trudging downtown), so I thought… let`s keep the fun times rolling. This morning it was easy when the following io9.com piece popped across my screen… Superman, Physics, Materials… What better fun can you have. For those who are not familiar with io9.com, its a blog, launched in 2008, that focuses on subjects of science fiction, futurism, and advancements in the fields of science and technology. It is edited by Annalee Newitz, a former policy analyst for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and contributor to Popular Science, Wired, and New Scientist.

I haven`t refreshed myself of the science referenced in the article… but then again, even the little boy or girl in rare metal aficionados is allowed out to play every once in a while. So please enjoy the piece as I read it…

"What is it about lead that stymies Superman's super-vision? And would he have the same difficulty seeing through superconductors? Super-science needs the answers to these questions!

 

An easy reason why Superman can't see through lead is because his vision is X-ray vision. X-rays notoriously fail to penetrate lead. But as the years have passed, and as Superman's super-vision has gotten more complicated, we've learned that it's not just x-rays that allowed him to see through objects. He's able to see things that are too small, too soft, and too detailed for x-rays to ever be able to pick them out. Superman's super-vision is, at this point, nearly all-powerful. But it still can't manage to get through lead, for some reason.

So what's so special about lead? After all, most of its physical properties are shared by other substances. Sure, it's ductile, malleable, and conducts electricity, but those traits are shared by metals. Its sole unique physical characteristic is that, unlike other metals, it has no practical Thomson Effect, which is also known as Kelvin Heat. (William Thomson became Lord Kelvin because of his extreme cleverness in science.)

The Thomson effect is not very well known, in part because it came into being by swallowing two other effects. Charles Athanase Peltier discovered the Peltier Effect when he noticed that when an electric current was passed through two materials, one cooled and the other heated. Thomas Johann Seebeck noticed exactly the opposite. When two different temperatures were applied to the same materials, a voltage and subsequent electric current developed between them.

William Thomson came in, we can only assume on a white horse, and saw that these were two sides of the same coin. He came up with a way to measure the temperature gradient in a single material with a current going through it. Once that is established, it's possible to come up with the gradients of any other material. Lead is often used as the baseline for these tests. It is commonly known as the only metal for which there is no Thomson effect whatsoever. It was only recently that it was shown to have the barest flickering of a Thomson Effect. This is not, necessarily, why Superman can't see through it — but there is a way we can check.

Superconductors, by definition, have no Thomson Effect. These materials, when dropped down to temperatures within spitting distance of absolute zero, have no electrical resistance. Since it's this resistance that causes heat, the current flows through a superconductor without heating it, and its actual Thomson Effect is right at zero.

So if Superman tries, and fails, to look through a superconductor, we'll know once and for all the reason why he can't see through lead. And maybe that, in turn, will give us a greater insight into how Superman's super-vision actually works. Make it happen, DC!"

The original post can be found by clicking on http://io9.com/5871214/can-superman-see-through-superconductors

Until soon... Ian

 

Science & Engineering Conferences on Rare or Critical Metals: North America 2102

There have been a growing number of conferences over the last couple of years related either to the rare earth, or more broadly rare metals or more selectively critical or technology metals. Many have been great contributors to informing broader audiences on the basic economic and geopolitical dimensions of this emerging sector. I have found them very helpful in better understanding the broader supply-demand aspects of the business, the rise and advances of new entrants to the market, as well as government initiated reviews regarding stockpiling, publics private partnering, etc.

Some specific industry sectors have also started to integrate specific panels on the macro-level supply, demand and supply chain issues with respect to these materials into their annual programs.
While these continue to be important discussions (the education process is a longer term one), industry and academia MUST also advance their attention and efforts toward the basic science and engineering underlying the processing and application of these critical elements. I’m delighted to see that two such focused symposia are being convened in North America is 2012 (and ’13 and a bit on that a bit later). The two major initiatives are: COM12 and MRS12, with each conference has a clearly distinct and different focus:

MRS 2012, that is the Materials Research Society’s fall meeting, is focused on the underlying science of materials and material applications, with an eye on seeking better utilization of scarce resources or finding substitutes for them. MRS has also been developing a strong energy sector orientation

COM 12, sponsored by the Canadian Metallurgy and Materials Society, is a process engineering oriented event covering mining beneficiation, hydro/pyro-metallurgy and separation chemistry. It will also specifc environmental and economic diemnsions related to rare metals.

Both opportunities are further outlined as follows:
51st Annual Conference of Metallurgists – COM 2012
September 30 – October 3, 2012
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
http://www.cim.org/COM2012/index.cfm
The overarching theme for this year’s conference is ‘ Metallurgy and Materials Impact on Society; the technology achievements of today that answer society's aspirations for tomorrow
The technical program will feature papers from all fields of minerals, metals and materials technologies. The technical program is divided out into the following streams/symposia:
§ Pressure Hydrometallurgy
§ Towards Clean Metallurgy and Processing
§ Corrosion: Recent Advances and Sustainability
§ Water, Air & Land
§ Sustainability through Mining
§ Rare Earths

The planned two-day Rare Earths Symposium will cover:
§ Rare Earth Geology & Geochemistry
§ Ore Dressing and Separation Technology
§ Hydrometallurgical Processing of Rare Earths
§ Physical Metallurgy of Rare Earths
§ Preparation of Metals, Alloys and High Purity Metals
§ Thorium Management
§ Rare Earth Economics

The deadline for submitting abstracts, January 31, 2012, is fast approaching, so they look forward to your submitting abstract at http://www.cim.org/com2012/conference/admin/login_abstract.cfm?Abstract=1

COM 2011 had over 800 attendees, with approximately equal representation between industry and academia. The conference’s focus is on the extraction and downstream processing of metals and minerals.

2012 Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting

November 26 – 30, 2012
Boston, Massachusetts USA
http://www.mrs.org/fall2012/
There are over 50 tentatively proposed symposia for this event, with the symposium most relevant to rare earths is titled “Energy Critical Materials”. The Fall MRS meeting typically attracts over 6000 researchers with a focus on chemistry, materials chemistry, physics and nanotechnology. The symposia generally deal with molecular-level science. It is understood that the Call for Papers will be for late February.

As mentioned earlier, COM 13 is already being scheduled for Montreal, Canada. This event will be co-hosted with MS&T (Material Science & Technology) Conference and the American Ceramic Society's 115^th Annual Meeting^. This combined eveny is expected to also attract a very large international audience covering a briad range of materials and metallurgical disciplines. Stay tuned for further details.

52 Annual Conference of Metallurgists – COM 2013
Combined with Materials Science & Technology Conference (MS&T13) and 115th Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society
October 27 – 31, 2013
Montreal, Quebec Canada
http://www.metsoc.org/com2013.asp

Until soon... Ian

A Brighter, More Efficient New Year’s Eve Ball

As Elizabeth Smyth wrote the other day on cleantechnica.com the other day, “Nothing says ‘Happy New Year!’ quite like the sight of the ball drop in Times Square. She’s probably right, as the countdown began to ring in the new year, millions of eyes were on a glowing ball descending from amidst the bright lights of skyscrapers and signs of New York.

Not only will the dropping of it mark the beginning of 2012, it also marks the coming into effect, January 1, 2012, of the U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA). The EISA marks the move to replace the use of energy-inefficient incandescent light bulbs in American homes with energy-efficient alternative sources of lighting.

But back to some interesting facts on Times Square’s New Year’s Eve Ball, as posted by Scientific Amercan yet…

§ The tradition of the Ball dropping in New York’s Times Square dates back to 1907. The first ball used was made of iron and wood and had only 120 25W light bulbs on it
§ This year’s Geodesic sphere is 12 feet in diameter and weighs in at 11, 875 pounds.
§ Its comprised of 2,688 Waterford crystal triangles of various sizes, some with intricately carved facets, shapes and motifs with different themes like joy, love and friendship
§ It’s more colourful than ever, incorporating 32,256 Philips Luxeon LEDs (three times more than last year). Philips Lighting says that its red, green, white and blue LED modules help to create a color palette of over 16 million colors and billions of color patterns, and
§ It is more energy efficient. According to the Times Square Alliance’s website this year’s ball is “10-20% more energy efficient than last year’s already energy-efficient Ball, consuming only the same amount of energy per hour as it would take to operate two traditional home ovens.”

Apparently the same technology used in the Ball is also used in the Philips AmbientLED line of consumer light bulbs, which includes innovations intended to replace the 60-watt incandescent bulb. As you already know, the key ingredients in an LED are rare metal enabled electronics and phosphors.

According to Philips, the commercially available AmbientLEDs consume up to 80 percent less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs. It claims that if everyone in the U.S. transitioned to energy-efficient lighting in their homes, consumers would eliminate 87.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and generate energy savings of $15.8 billion.

If you’d like to read more, just click on http://cleantechnica.com/2011/12/31/new-years-eve-ball-led/ and http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/12/30/speaking-of-crystals-check-out-the-specs-on-times-squares-new-years-eve-ball/

Until soon… Ian

Nanoscale LEDs and superfast optical data transfers

So how small and how fast are things getting? (Faster than when I was a kid -- we used flashlights and morse code to send messages across the alley)

As Jamie Condliffe*, a freelance journallist who alos writes for the New Scientist “When it comes to transferring huge amounts of data in the fastest possible time, copper sucks. What you need to use is light”.  As such, plenty of laser data transfer systems already exist, designed to replace circuitry on motherboards in supercomputers. Well, there’s soon to be better…

Jamie Keene, recently reported on theverge.com, that researchers from Stanford University have taken a big step forward in the development of light-based communications in computer chips. While laser optical interconnect systems already exist, the Stanford team has come up with a new nanoscale LED setup that improves the energy efficiency 2,000 times (sipping just 0.25 femto-joules per bit sent as compared to a laser's 500 femto-joules). Okay, first question you’re probably asking.. What’s a femto?... 10-15  (Yup -- one thousandth of a millionth or a millionth or ‘0.000000000000001’)

Apparently these chips,using the LEDs, will be capable of transfer speeds of 10Gbps. This data speed is achieved through using single-mode LEDs.  As Keene explains, “normal LEDs give off light at a range of frequencies, whereas the Stanford team's new design creates a single frequency of light. Electricity is applied to dots of indium arsenide, which give off light as current passes through them. This is then focused by a photonic crystal, created by putting an array of holes into a semiconductor, which both forces the light to resonate at the desired frequency and acts as a focusing mirror, creating a beam of light.”

In closing, you may have noiticed that I places an asterisk against Jamie Condliffe's name above. He wrote an interesting about five months ago titled... Will Li-Fi be the new WiFi? where visible light communication (VLC) uses pulses of light to transmit information wirelessly. Will probably require rare metals somewhere in generating the light pulses. An article in the making to start off the new year.

The drive towards faster, lower-powered computing shows no sign of slowing down.

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/17/2568275/nanoscale-led-optical-data-transfer-efficient-laser

In closing out the thirs year of RMApps, I'd like to extend the best wishes of the season to all our readers. Please enjoy a healthy and safe holiday season.

Until soon… Ian