Spencer Krum on Surface Tension

What is really happening here? Surface tension is a pretty good explanation because not many people really understand surface tension.

Surface Tension is the term used to describe the elasticity of the surface of a body of water. This phenomena is a result of the hydrogen bonding we talked about earlier. Take a droplet of water. In the center of the droplet molecules are completely surrounded by other molecules with which they can form hydrogen bonds. Water molecules on the very edge of of the water droplet do not have that luxury and so make less hydrogen bonds than more centrally located molecules. This results in a higher energy state for a water molecule near the edge than for one near the center. Because molecules want to be at the lowest energy possible the droplet of water arranges itself into a configuration that minimizes the number of molecules on the very edge. This means the droplet of constant volume will form to the shape that has the lowest surface area for that volume. In three dimensions the lowest surface area to volume ratio is found in a sphere. Throw away your teardrop expectations people, water droplets are always spheres. This phenomena is what makes it possible for a metal needle to float on still water. More energy would be spent in disrupting the outer layer of water molecules than would be gained by dropping the needle to the bottom of the pool.

I don't really get how soap rapidly mixes the milk and food coloring. Any thoughts from cyberspace?

Spencer Krum talks about the Warp Core

Hand in hand with science is science fiction. Star Trek is everywhere in our society so it is no surprise that I'm a huge fan. Star Trek uses science fiction to tell stories they could never tell in our century. They have eliminated a need for money in their 24th century society. One of the things that enables them to live without money is that they have engineered generators capable of producing prodigious amounts of energy. Enough energy for everyone.

This is the reactor in the heart of the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation. For you technophiles out there that's registry USS ENTERPRISE NCC-1701D.

How does it work?

I don't know. Its science fiction.

The principle is that powerful energy forcefields store both matter and antimatter in separate areas of the engine, then the two are carefully mixed inside the reaction chamber in a perfectly balanced 1:1 ratio. This is a molar ratio, the number of molecules of antimatter injected into the reaction chamber exactly equals the number of matter molecules. The masses and volumes of these two quantities could be very different, Star Trek never specifies what kind of matter or antimatter is used for fuel. The result is enormous amounts of energy. The energy released is defined by Einstein's energy equation: E=mc2. So, LOTS! The energy is harnessed by dilithium crystals. Is this crystals made of molecules of two lithium atoms covalently bonded together? I don't know. How is the energy harvested? I don't know.

Geordi reports that the engine runs above 99.9% efficiency and the tuning is done in the hundreds and thousands places of the decimal. With the amount of energy being so high a small change does represent a large quantity of energy. Modern automobiles run at around 20% efficiency. History's first real engine was the the Aeolipile built by Hero of Alexandria which operated at less than 1% efficiency.

First Post

My name is Spencer Krum. This is my science Blog. I've been an avid enthusiast of science and general nerdyness for a long time now. I'm going to use this space to present my own opinion and feelings on science and technology. I will try to keep a level of professionalism on the blog, but I will try to make it friendly and accessible as well. I'm a poor college student. If papers and things take my time from the blog, then papers and things take my time away from the blog. Fear not. I shall return.