How To Levitate And Melt An Aluminum At The Same Time

An Aluminum Slug Melts And Levitates At The Same Time -- io9

Run an alternating current through a coiled length of copper and you'll create a levitation cylinder. Drop a bar of aluminum in and you've got yourself some hovering metal. But leave the metal there too long...

The thing about this levitation cylinder is that it doubles as an induction heater. In a nutshell: the current coursing through the copper (which has been coiled to form a solenoid) creates an alternating magnetic field. The magnetic field induces a special form of electrical current (known as eddy currents) in the hovering piece of aluminum. These eddy currents give rise a phenomenon, called Joule heating, that, with enough power, can cause the metal to become very, very hot, as it does here.

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My Comment: This is so cool.

New Super-Heavy Element Discovered That Points Towards 'Strange Materials Of The Future'

From The Daily Mail:

Physicists have discovered a new super-heavy element that had been labeled a nuclear 'missing link' by scientists.

The element 117 is roughly 40 per cent heavier than lead and has been given the temporary name ununseptium, which refers to its atomic number.

Researchers believe the element points towards a concoction of more massive and stable elements that could be used to create strange and unpredictable new materials.

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Laser Technology Creates New Forms Of Metal And Enhances Aircraft Performance

Photo: Dr. Chunlei Guo of the University of Rochester stands in front of his femtosecond laser. (Credit: Walter Colley Studio)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (July 20, 2009) — AFOSR-funded researchers at the University of Rochester are using laser light technology that will help the military create new forms of metal that may guide, attract and repel liquids and cool small electronic devices.

Dr. Chunlei Guo and his team of researchers for the project discovered a way to transform a shiny piece of metal into one that is pitch black, not by paint, but by using incredibly intense bursts of laser light. The black metal created, absorbs all radiation that shines upon it.

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