Electrocaloric Cooling, Blood Moon and what is under the Antarctic Ice?
March 27
This week we investigate a breakthrough in electrocaloric cooling devices that can cool large rooms in 15 minutes. We discover what is actually under all that ice covering Antarctica. We learn about a blood moon and look at photographs of a blood moon from Earth and the Moon. Finally we mathematically solve the problem of how large a sofa can be carried up a set of stairs.
Electrocaloric Cooling Device
A team at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology have developed a kilowatt scale cooling device that can stabilize indoor temperatures at 21C to 22C within 15 minutes (with outside temperatures between 30C and 31C).
The electrocaloric effect occurs when certain materials heat up or cool down when exposed to an electric field. It works through the alignment and disordering of electric dipoles with the material.
The previous maximum cooling power of an electrocaloric cooling device was 260 watts. This did not meet the kilowatt scale requirement for commercial air conditioning. The team overcame these difficulties with a multi cell architecture. 10 electrocaloric cooling units were connected with each unit containing four thin walled nickel titanium alloy tubes with a total mass of 104.4 grams. A graphene nano fluid was used as a heat transfer medium.
The breakthrough demonstrates the potential for solid state cooling technologies. Consumers will benefit from lower enemy bills whilst the new devices will save indoor space. The team is working with industry to commercialize the technology. Future research will focus on developing new electrocaloric materials with greater cooling capacity.
What is under Antarctica?
An international team, led from the British Antarctic Survey have released the most detailed map yet of the landscape beneath Antarctica. The new map incorporates more than six decades of survey data from planes, satellites, ships and dog drawn sleds.
The map shows what the continent would look like if all 27 million cubic kilometers of ice had been removed. A few interesting stats:
The total volume of Antarctic Ice including ice shelves, 27.17 cubic kilometers
Total area of Antarctic Ice including ice shelves, 13.63 square kilometers
Mean thickness of Ice including ice shelves 1,948 meters
Thickest overlaying ice, 4,757 meters
If all the ice in Antarctica was melted the potential global sea level rise is 58 meters.
Blood Moon
On March 13 there was a total lunar eclipse that was visible in the Western Hemisphere. During a total lunar eclipse the earth blocks the light from the sun. It is known as a Blood Moon due to the red glow of the moon during the height of the eclipse. Some light will pass around the moon and through the earth’s atmosphere. That light is refracted and scatters allowing the longer red wavelengths to illuminate the moon giving it a reddish hue.
Space photographer Andrew McCarthy was able to capture this magnificent image of the blood moon from the US. You can buy copies of the image here. You can also download a free 4k version of the shot.
This is what a blood moon looks like from earth however what does a full lunar eclispe look like from the moon (it is probably more correctly called a full “earth” eclipse because on the moon it is the earth that blocks out the sun).
This shot was taken by Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Lander from the moon (it has been digitally enhanced).
The moving a Sofa Problem
Many different TV shows have used the carrying of a sofa up a set of stairs for comedic effect. Most of us have tried to carry a sofa up a set of stairs so we can relate to the problems encountered. However what is the optimal solution? What is the largest sofa that can be carried around a given corner. A mathematician in Korea has posted a 100+ page solution to the problem (finally maths is dealing with the important issues).
The original question “what is the largest sofa that can be carried around a given corner without getting stuck” was posed by Mathematician, Leo Moser in 1966. It had remained unsolved until now.
The solution is for a hall of 1 unit, a sofa (in the u shape above) can only be a maximum of 2.2195 units. Keep this in mind next time you move house. Measure the hall stairs and then calculate the maximum sized, specifically shaped sofa that can be carried up the stairs. If your sofa is any other shape or the hall is not conventual in shape, I can’t help you without a further mathematical breakthrough. This breakthrough took almost 50 years. It will probably be easier to buy a smaller sofa.
Paying it Forward
If you have a start-up or know of a start-up that has a product ready for market please let me know. I would be happy to have a look and feature the startup in this newsletter. Also if any startups need introductions please get in touch and I will help where I can.
If you have any questions or comments please comment below.
I would also appreciate it if you could forward this newsletter to anyone that you think might be interested or provide a recommendation on Substack.