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Cosmic Absurdities
The BBC today reported that archaeologists in China have found the worlds oldest observatory. The semicircular platform (130 feet in diameter) surrounded by 13 pillars was unearthed near the city of Linfen in the Shanxi province. The remains are...

Hawaii Volcanoes
The Island of Hawaii is made up of five volcanoes. Each began to grow beneath the sea and eventually joined to form a single island. The volcanoes grew from a hotspot beneath the sea. The chain of volcanoes were created as the Pacific Plate moved...

MIDLIFE IS A CROSSROADS—NOT A CRISIS-Part Two
MIDLIFE IS A CROSSROADS—NOT A CRISIS Part two © Manganiello—all rights reserved 2003 In last month’s Part one of this article we learned that midlife is not a crisis; it’s a crossroads of the soul. One road leads to what I call the...

Quotes to Think About
INSPIRATIONAL COMMENTS: “There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance – that principle is contempt prior to investigation. – Herbert...

The Superultramodern Principia : The Foundations of Superultramodern Science
The Superultramodern Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (in short, The Superultramodern Principia) mainly combines The NSTP (Non - Spatial Thinking Process) Theory and Conmathematics (Conceptual Mathematics). It also entails some other...

 
Walls can cool themselves!

I always start my column with a question. So why break away with tradition now?

Would you believe that walls can cool themselves when they get hot? (Actually that’s 2 questions at the beginning of this column!) Many of you, if not all of you will answer a simple and flat, ‘NO’. I would have said so too until I read it with my own eyes (I didn’t actually see these walls with my own eyes, no).

The BASF company announced in mid-year that it had managed to do the impossible. The experiments were held in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

Ok, I know you are all interested in reading how these walls in fact ‘work’ but it’s sort of complicated. Anyway I’ll try my best. Read on!

The walls are filled with plastic micro-marbles, which in turn are filled with paraffin wax. Now the wax will melt at a temperature higher than 24oC something. Melting, as you might know absorbs energy, which is in this case heat. The paraffin wax in the micro-marbles absorbs heat thus cooling their surroundings (they take all the heat away).

Of course,


there’ll be millions, even billions of micro-marbles full of paraffin in only 1 wall. The walls will seem to absorb heat from their surroundings. A short nap next to one of those during a hot summer day would be great; no need to sit under trees anymore!!!

With this small invention-of-a-genius, we will be able to play computer games without sweating or even go to the toilet and not sweat there!

BASF for its part is not settling down there though. This is an invention for this summer but what will we see next. What will we see next winter? Mystery!

About the Author

K.A.Cassimally is the editor in chief of Astronomy Journal and Astronomy Journal Ezine. He is also the co-founder of the RCPL Astronomy Club. K.A.Cassimally is best known for his article 'Harry Potter and the Moons of Jupiter'.
He is also Senior Columnist at BackWash.com where he writes 'Not Scientific Science'.
Website: http://www.rcplastronomyclub.zik.mu
:http://www.backwash.com/content.php?id=358
Email: kcassimally@rcplastronomyclub.zik.mu

 

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