Artificial Trees!

Now, this is an interesting idea! Given hat man is entirely hopeless at protecting the environment and compelled by some inner voice to make ash out of any remaining beauty in his path, this concept might actually take off, if only for the selfish need that we have for oxygen.

The idea is this - create artificial trees that would absorb CO2 out of humidity by a technique called humidity swing (more on this later).  They would also be equipped with solar panels to create energy to drive this process. Further, a see-saw below the tree would encourage people to play on it thereby creating more energy to be diverted to the absorption process. Excess energy would be used to light up the tree at night which would then serve as a pretty street light!
Hmmm....thats the first thought that came to my mind.
And the next one, what is this humidity swing process anyway?
and the third, what would the tree do with the CO2 it extracts from the humidity?
Oh, and another thing, the tree would be made out of recycled plastic from old bottles and what not.


To the second thought....A paper by Klaus Lackner and Allen Wright from Columbia University proposes a method of CO2 capture using a humidity swing sorbent.
Two things here,
1. Humidity swing is the process of raising the relative humidity (called RH ;) )  to a large value for a while and then returning it to normal value.
2. A sorbent is basically an absorbent, a material that absorbs another.
So this is how it works...
1. A dry resin absorbs CO2.
This dry resin consists of +ve ions fixed to a polymer matrix and free -ve ions (OH-)
OH- + CO2 -> HCO3-

2. The resin is wet with water.

3. When the CO2 saturated resin reacts with water it releases CO2 at a higher pressure. The resin is then ready to be used again as in step 1.
2HCO3- -> H2O + CO2 + CO3-
This the resin regeneration phase.

4. Drying of the resin
When the water and CO2 are released, the RH of the resin drops to the original value and it is ready for reuse.

Now coming to the question of the CO2 that would be stored and then released....where would it be stored? What happens to the CO2 when it becomes time to regenerate the resin? Will the saturated resin be unsaturated in an enclosure that traps the CO2 when it is released from the resin? If so, wha would they do with it once captured? Release it into space? solidify it and bury it?
And a new question that has popped into my head just now....where's the O2 in this process generated from? I wonder if the news articles were misleading.... Rather an unsatisfactory understanding at this stage...but when I do get more detailed information, I'll be sure to update :)

Links :
The news article in the bangalore mirror - http://www.bangaloremirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=Tech%20-%20Sci%20Tech&sectid=44&contentid=2011031720110317202342266dbf165cd
http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=16104
The paper - http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zero.no%2Fzero-konferansen%2F2010%2Finnleggene%2FKlaus_Lackner.pdf&rct=j&q=humidity%20swing%20klaus&ei=mySMTa2WNcjxrQfw27TQDQ&usg=AFQjCNFlkJLQOAb387Hnp6XM_vGIbdSMnw&cad=rja

Planes can fly!

It all started out with that blasted xkcd comic! It came up at random and it got my fingers itching to know the answer. So as is my way, i spent an afternoon digging up information, when i finally hit on this gem.

There are a couple of things that need to be noted here :
1. Bernoulli effect : "when the speed of horizontal flow through a fluid increases, the pressure decreases" quoted from wisegeek . I especially liked the analogy about a fluid flowing through a narrowing pipe. It speeds up, but considering that there's no change in mass or gravity, the pressure behind the fluid must have to increase compared to that in front to push the fluid faster.


2. Cambered airfoil : basically this means an unsymmetrical airfoil.


3. To avoid the suspense :-

• airplanes CAN fly upside down
• lift is not because of airfoil shape (What a world do we live in when we can't even begin to trust our own school textbooks!), though it does contribute...read on ;)
• airfoils can be symmetrical, asymmetrical and even flat :D

4. Two criteria are essential to an airfoil :-

• It should have a sharp trailing edge
• the trailing edge should be aimed diagonally downward

Now to the explanation.
Oh wait, first off, forget what you read in school about airfoil shape being responsible for anything....hmm, next i'll have to find out what the different shapes are really for!
One answer that I know of is : the camber is there to prevent stall (reduced lift from upper surface compared to lower surface) and to allow a plane to fly at lower speeds


Two explanations of the lift
1. Newton's 3rd law and Coanda effect
2. Bernoulli effect
According to the source that I've cited, both explanations are equally viable and are not competing in any way...they're just both right!
So, on to the first :-
FIRST EXPLANATION
When an airfoil (remember that this can even be a plank of plywood, though it wouldn't be a very good one) goes through the air at a positive angle of attack, both the upper and lower surface of the airfoil are responsible for the lift; a greater portion of which is from the upper surface. The air along the upper surface is stuck to the surface or attached to it because of the Coanda effect (fluid or gas stream will hug a convex contour when directed at a tangent to that surface) and hence it flows along the upper surface and since the trailing edge of the wing is aimed downwards (see point 4 above), the air is pushed downwards resulting in a downwash. By Newton's 3rd law, this produces an upward force on the airfoil. Now, to the lower surface. At the +ve AoA (fancy abbr for angle of attack), the air is pushed downwards by the lower surface, hence the air pushes upwards. These two forces, combine to produce lift. YAY!


REMEMBER
Without the downward deflection of air, the AoA is irrelevant since lift won't be created.

SECOND EXPLANATION
The leading edge of the airfoil splits the airflow current into two, sending one over the upper edge, and another below the lower edge. If the airfoil has a +ve AoA OR if the airfoil has a classic shape (like we've always been taught), then the stream of air travelling above the airfoil will be well over the upper edge.
Enter Bernoulli...The air flow on the upper edge, since it travels in an arc well over the upper edge, causes the creation of a pocket of low pressure. Air therefore rushes in to fill this low pressure area. However, the air flow along the lower edge, since it collides with it, causes a region of high pressure to develop. This high pressure region slows the air stream on the lower edge down. The pressure differential generates a lift.
But the difference in air velocities over the upper and lower edge is caused because of the pressure difference, and not the other way around.

Now that that is all sorted out, lets move on to the airfoil shapes....
1. The classic shape
From above, we see that the classic shape is good in the case we want large lift even at low speeds. Also, it reduces drag significantly.
2. A flat wing
This would require a much larger AoA to generate the required lift. Though, it would still develop the pressure differential and downwash in the same explained manner. But the increased AoA would mean a greater drag.
Helicopter blades are nearly flat. This is preferred because drag is almost not an issue for them. What is required is a maneuverable AoA and airspeed. This is encouraged by nearly flat or tear-drop shaped (symmetrical) blades.
3. symmetrical wings
A symmetrical or tear drop shaped wing (like most planes do), will resemble the classic shape when positioned appropriately. This is why planes can fly upside down. Both lifting phenomenon still work. 

A really good explanation is quoted below from http://www.dynamicflight.com/aerodynamics/airfoils/

"Airfoil sections are of two basic types, symmetrical and nonsymmetrical.
Symmetrical airfoils have identical upper and lower surfaces. They are suited to rotary-wing applications because they have almost no center of pressure travel. Travel remains relatively constant under varying angles of attack, affording the best lift-drag ratios for the full range of velocities from rotor blade root to tip. However, the symmetrical airfoil produces less lift than a nonsymmetrical airfoil and also has relatively undesirable stall characteristics. The helicopter blade (airfoil) must adapt to a wide range of airspeeds and angles of attack during each revolution of the rotor. The symmetrical airfoil delivers acceptable performance under those alternating conditions. Other benefits are lower cost and ease of construction as compared to the nonsymmetrical airfoil"

Other sources were :
http://amasci.com/wing/airfoil.html
http://warp.povusers.org/grrr/airfoilmyth.html

Podcasts

For the last year and a half, I've been subscribed to a marvelous set of podcasts that i religiously follow. In case, my laptop ever crashes for no given reason or I quit my current place of work (yay!) and so have to give up my mac, on whose iTunes I'm currently subscribed or if a giant meteorite should happen to destroy well....something anyway, here's a record of my favourite podcasts :

1. Stuff you should know (http://www.howstuffworks.com/podcasts/stuff-you-should-know.rss)
2. The Naked Scientists (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/naked_scientists_podcast.xml)
3. From our own correspondent (http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/fooc/rss.xml)
4. Brain Stuff (http://www.howstuffworks.com/podcasts/brainstuff.rss)
5. 60 second Earth and 60 second Science (http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/sciam_podcast_i_earth.xml and http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/sciam_podcast_i_d.xml)
6. A point of view (http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/pov/rss.xml)
7. The science of everything (http://fods12.podbean.com/feed)
8. Quirks and Quarks (http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/quirksaio.xml)

And here are the podcasts that I wish never died a slow death :'( I miss you guys...please come back!!!

1. The Thought experiment (http://feeds.feedburner.com/thethoughtexperiment)
2. Discovery Friday news feedbag