On 03/13/2010 11:07 AM, OrionWorks - Steven Vincent Johnson wrote: > >From Terry, > > >> http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/thermopower-waves-0308 >> >> <excerpt> >> >> "A previously unknown phenomenon >> >> In the new experiments, each of these electrically and thermally >> conductive nanotubes was coated with a layer of a reactive fuel that >> can produce heat by decomposing. This fuel was then ignited at one end >> of the nanotube using either a laser beam or a high-voltage spark, and >> the result was a fast-moving thermal wave traveling along the length >> of the carbon nanotube like a flame speeding along the length of a lit >> fuse. Heat from the fuel goes into the nanotube, where it travels >> thousands of times faster than in the fuel itself. As the heat feeds >> back to the fuel coating, a thermal wave is created that is guided >> along the nanotube. With a temperature of 3,000 kelvins, this ring of >> heat speeds along the tube 10,000 times faster than the normal spread >> of this chemical reaction. The heating produced by that combustion, it >> turns out, also pushes electrons along the tube, creating a >> substantial electrical current. " >> > Additional Excerpt: > > "After further development, the system now puts out energy, in proportion > to its weight, about 100 times greater than an equivalent weight > of lithium-ion battery." >
And, presumably, since the wave travels along the tubes at detonation speeds, it puts out all that energy essentially at a single point in time, in the first microsecond or so after the nanotubes are lit. This sounds somewhat more exciting, even, than the exploding Macintosh laptops. Do we really believe this is intended as a battery, or is it the first example of a non-nuclear EMP device?
