Science Floats Glass To Gain New Insight

Scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, TN are hoping to gain a greater insight into the nature of glass using a new $1.65 million Neutron Electrostatic Levitation Chamber (NESL). Using the NESL, scientists are hoping to float liquids and study them, unmixed with the environment, in order to understand glass. It sounds somewhat trite, but this is actually a really interesting experiment. Glass is not so much a product or item as it is a state of being--it's a part of the solid, gas, liquid set. Team leader and physicist Kenneth Kelton explains,

We've used glasses since 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, but we still don’t understand the process – how it goes from a liquid to a glass. It's one of the most interesting dynamical processes anywhere around. If we look at the difference in structure from a liquid to a glass, we can see a difference, but it's very subtle. The question is, What's different?

In order to figure out what makes glass different from liquid, Kelton and his team are going to float liquid forms of several materials, such as titanium, zirconium, nickel, platinum and their alloys. Hopefully in time, we will see some solid results from the study!

Technical Ceramics: What Makes The Large Hadron Collider Go Round

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be resuming operations later this month, according to the New York Times. With its recommencement, the world's largest science experiment will be underway, again--but at half power. The LHC is huge: Its circumference is over 17 miles, and its concrete-lined tunnels have a width of 12 feet.

Some of the less-hyped aspects of the LHC are the individual components comprising it, which include technical ceramic components like its vacuum chambers. The vacuum chambers are made of ceramic because metal would interfere with the magnetic fields that drive the LHC. The function of the vacuum chambers is to keep the accelerated protons from hitting air molecules, which would alter their speed or position. As protons are fed into the vacuum chambers, they very quickly reach speeds up to 299,792 km/second.

The deployment of technical ceramics in the Large Hadron Collider is just another unexpectedly great application for ceramics technology. With a strength and durability as good or better than metal, but with its own unique properties, ceramics are a great solution for many difficult or challenging scenarios.