Worlds First Plastic Magnets

CrashRide writes: "Came across this story at www.sciencedaily.com about the worlds first plastic magnet. Not too useful for day-to-day stuff yet -- 'magnetic polymers are unstable unless they are in an oxygen-free environment at temperatures below 10 degrees Kelvin (more than 440 degrees below zero Fahrenheit; absolute zero, the point at which all motion stops, is zero degrees Kelvin)' but the possibilites are interesting."

Comments

*Degrees* Kelvin?

[Red Moose]

Just to be bitching, there are no "degrees" Kelvin, they are just called Kelvin. It's just "below 10 Kelvin". At least that's something I remember from 10 years ago........

Re:*Degrees* Kelvin?

[Eric Smith]

And to be really really picky, it's "below 10 kelvins", just like you would say "below 10 volts" or "below 10 grams". It's not capitalized, and when you're talking about more than one of them it gains an "s" for the plural form.

Re:*Degrees* Kelvin?

[PD]

Thanks for the clarification. I think the readers should understand one thing: these magnets are not for the outside of your refridgerator. They are for the inside of your refridgerator.

Re:*Degrees* Kelvin?

[PD]

What are you talking about? Even an oven can freeze to greater than 10K.

Re:*Degrees* Kelvin?

[martyn s]

No, actually, you're wrong. 10 Kelvin is a specific point on the temperature range. It's not a quantity. As I learned it, you say 10 degrees celsius when relating a temperature, since 10 degrees celsius is a specific temperature. But when relating the difference between two temperatures you say "A is 10 Celsius degrees higher than B." A Celsius degree is a difference in temperature. A degree Celsius refers to a specific temperature.

So 10 Kelvin is correct. To say a difference in temperature with kelvin you might say "60 Kelvin is 10 kelvins more than 50 kelvins."

And just for the record a Celsius degree is the same as a Kelvin (difference in temperature). The Kelvin and Celsius scales are the same, except Celsius is shifted up 273 Celsius degrees.

Re:*Degrees* Kelvin?

[PD]

How'd I ever get through algebra let alone calculus?? ;-)

Probably like I did. Take every class twice. :-)

Re:*Degrees* Kelvin?

[friscolr]

"60 Kelvin is 10 kelvins more than 50 kelvins."

why wouldn't it be "60 Kelvin is 10 kelvins more than 50 Kelvin." since 50 Kelvin is a specific point on the temperature range as well?
what's the difference between lower and upper case - kelvin and Kelvin?

Re:*Degrees* Kelvin?

[Eric Smith]

It's "60 kelvins is 10 kelvins more than 50 kelvins". Just like "60 volts is 10 volts more than 50 volts" or "60 kilometers is 10 kilometers more than 50 kilometers" or "60 automobiles is 10 automobiles more than 50 automobiles".

You wouldn't say "60 automobile is 10 automobiles more than 50 automobile", now would you?

Re:*Degrees* Kelvin?

[Eric Smith]

I did read your post, and I fully understood what you were claiming, and it's just plain wrong, even though some people may say such things.

The current temperature where I am is 287 kelvins. A claim that the temperature is "287 kelvin" is grammatically incorrect. The only time such a construct would be grammatically correct would be when the temperature is 1 kelvin or less.

Just as it is correct to say that the temperature is "72 degrees Farenheit", but incorrect to say that the temperature is "72 degree Farenheit".

Didn't you learn about singular and plural in grade school?

Have you ever read any peer-reviewed scientific journals? There are occasional mistakes even in those, but usually they get it right.

some similar research at Ohio State

[trip11]

A professor of mine at Ohio State has been doing research in the same field as well. Here's a link to his homepage. here Dr Epstine has also been working on the conducting polimers as well.