By Christopher Moore
A research team based out of the physics department here at Virginia Commonwealth University (where I call home) has discovered clusters of Aluminum atoms that have chemical properties similar to single atoms of metallic and nonmetallic elements when they react with iodine. This is the first indication of what is being called “Superatom Chemistry.” Rather than combining single atoms to form complex molecules, new forms of atomic clusters (single element atoms clustered together) can now be reacted with other elements or clusters to produce never-before-seen compounds with distictive features.
The article has just been published in the journal Science. A press-release issued by VCU can be found here:
The results of the research, headed jointly by Shiv N. Khanna, professor of physics at Virginia Commonwealth University and A. Welford Castleman Jr., the Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry and Physics and the Eberly Family Distinguished Chair in Science at Penn State University, will be reported in the 14 January 2005 issue of the journal Science.
“Depending on the number of aluminum atoms in the cluster, we have demonstrated ’superatoms’ exhibiting the properties of either halogens or alkaline earth metals,” says Castleman. “This result suggests the intriguing potential of this chemistry in nanoscale synthesis.” The discovery could have practical applications in the fields of medicine, food production and photography.
A cluster of 13 aluminum atoms behaves like a single iodine atom, while a cluster of 14 aluminum atoms behaves like an alkaline earth atom. An entire “new” periodic table can be assembled for just Al clusters.
“The discovery of these new iodine compounds, which include aluminum clusters, is critical because it reveals a new form of ’superatom’ chemistry,” said Khanna. “In the future, we may apply this chemistry, building on our previous knowledge, to create new materials for energy applications and even medical devices.”
Not a bad accomplishment for the guys down the hall.
By Christopher Moore
I have just finished installing a pretty tough spam-blocker caller Spam Karma. You can find out more about it here.
Since my last post on the subject, I have been hit with a few hundred more comment spams. I had increased the spam filters sensitivity, and that kept most of the spam from being displayed. But they were still visible in my Admin panel waiting to be “Approved.” I have stopped that with the new WordPress plugin referenced above.
I will show those pesky spammers that I won’t take it anymore.
By Christopher Moore
I’ve always been a big fan of “Caveman Science.” Take a big rock, smash something, and see what happens. Ahhhh, satisfaction. As a child I would use whatever I could to deconstruct whatever I could, with the purpose of learning how the thing worked. Of course, I usually just blew it up only to find out that blown-up stuff doesn’t work anymore.
I’m not the only grown man who never grew up, though. NASA scientists are planning on blowing up a huge comet to … well … learn what its made out of. Imagine wanting to know what a radio is made of. To find out, stick a M80 Firecracker into the thing, light it, stand back, and after the explosion look around and see what came out. You’ll find transitors, capacitors, burnt wires, a few screws and who knows what else. That’s how we are going to learn about a comets composition.
Scientists know very little about comets, and this mission should shed some new light:
“A sample return would be the ultimate, but this is one exciting mission because for the first time we’re actually reaching out and we’re going to create our own crater,” says Donald Yeomans, a senior research scientist at JPL in California — and an adviser on the movie Deep Impact, which shares its name with the spacecraft to be lauched.
“We’ll understand how the comet is put together, its density, its porosity, whether it has a surface crust and underlying ices, whether it’s layered ice, whether it’s a wimpy comet or whether it’s a rock-hard ice ball. All of these things will become apparent after we smack it.”
The energy produced by the impact of the spacecraft into the comet will be the equivalent of about 4.5 tons of TNT. Not a bad little slap. As Richard Grammier, manager of NASA’s Jet Propultion Laboratory, puts it: “It would be like it’s standing in the middle of the road and this huge semi coming down at it at 23,000 mph, you know, just bam!”
Liftoff is targeted for Jan. 12 and the impact, which will look like a fireworks display when viewed through a telescope, should occur on … get this … July 4th.
Ug like science. Ug want hit rock. Make boom.
Or as any middle school boy will tell you, blowing stuff up is cool.
By Christopher Moore
I leave for a little while, come back, and I’m faced with the largest pile of rotten filth I’ve ever seen. You may have noticed that our comments have been hijacked by spammers. I’m trying to delete the spam, but they have managed to prevent that via some evil tricks. I will have them gone shortly, and a few death-pits set-up for when they come back.
They have declared war. I shall fight them with firm resolve.
