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Fuel Free Spacecrafts Using Graphene
William Robinson writes: While using a laser to cut a sponge made of crumpled sheets of Graphene oxide, researchers accidentally discovered that it can turn light into motion. As the laser cut into the material, it mysteriously propelled forward. Baffled, researchers investigated further. The Graphene material was put in a vacuum and again shot with a laser. Incredibly, the laser still pushed the sponge forward, and by as much as 40 centimeters. Researchers even got the Graphene to move by focusing ordinary sunlight on it with a lens. Though scientists are not sure why this happens, they are excited with new possibilities such as light propelled spacecraft that does not need fuel.
Having read the article, they've already ruled material vaporization out.
Well, CRT face is (weakly) grounded, so e- kinetic energy can excite atom for subsequent photon emission, but its charge will happily leak into the ground.
There is no "ground" anywhere next to flying spacecraft!
Actually, on reading the preprint, yes, electrons come from under the Fermi level, get lost in the process and graphene foam (or, spacecraft carrying it) *will* become charged -- it was pointed out in the article as well, but I did miss it on quick read.
AC below actually paints a rather dramatic picture of what can happen next! :)
Paul B.
A quick search on converting photons to electrons turned this up:
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/...
A new discovery by researchers at the ICFO has revealed that graphene is even more efficient at converting light into electricity than previously known. Graphene is capable of converting a single photon of light into multiple electrons able to drive electric current.
So that could be where the extra electrons are coming from.
Better known as 318230.
Not any ordinary Xenon, but 136Xe.
In the various Ion Engines designed, built, and occasionally functioning, 136 Xe is the propulsive gas of choice, and pretty much all of the (Unclassified) Literature on the Subject refer only to it.
Under Plasma conditions, Xenon is anything but inert, and there is at least one (Relatively) stable 136xe-3He compound that is only chemically stable when Ionized.
This is also true with certain Helium Hydrides, but for Propulsion purposes, one needs as much Nuclear Mass that is easily Ionized to High Charge States as possible.
They wouldn't let us play with Radon.
> technology should be indistinguishable from magic
That would be Clarke, Arthur C.
Article says they tested for that, and the tests show that the material is not losing atoms. It seems (according to further tests) that the graphene sponge is absorbing energy from the directed light (they repeated the experiment with sunlight and a traditional lens, with similar results) and finally reaches some sort of critical mass, and sheds electrons in a stream, rather than in random directions, resulting in thrust. If this whole hypothesis pans out, the difficulty in making a space craft that makes use of this phenomenon is that it would eventually build up a large positive charge, which would eventually damage the craft, if it can't be dealt with.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
Of course this means that you need to have a fuel source but it's likely to be far more efficient than current rocket fuel plus there it no need for it to be something explosive like hydrogen
I'm assuming we're referring to space propulsion not launch since the former requires very high thrustand so the efficient techniques don't generally work. Given that, Hydrogen isn't explosive: it requires oxygen for that and there's none of that in space. A tank full of liquid hydrogen in space is pretty inert as these things go.
SJW n. One who posts facts.