Computer Aided Design & The 118 Elements
by Florin FODOR
The huge success of carbon fiber composite in the second half of the 20th century, inspired engineers to imagine its use on the grandest possible scale, hence they started to ask: is this material strong enough to achieve a longstanding dream, that of building an elevator into space? A Space Elevator promises to replace the... Continue Reading →
Helium-3 (3He) isotope is extremely rare on Earth. Most of our supply comes indirectly from tritium (3H)decay in nuclear stockpiles, producing only modest quantities. Likewise a minor amount of 4He isotope is collected as a by-product of big companies tapping natural gas. For most people this is not a topic of much interest, so why... Continue Reading →
Helium is an inert gas, is super light, is the second most abundant element in the universe (after hydrogen), yet on Earth, Helium is scarce, is a non-renewable resource and is very expensive to produce.One of its isotopes even more rare an precious is Helium-3. If we could somehow get more Helium-3, our dream about... Continue Reading →
Transportation means propelled by an engine (cars, planes, boats etc.), refrigerators, machine building industry and comfortable homes. How did humanity ended up being depended of all these? Well… the answer is already there since the Earth exist. It is given by Mother Nature and it comes from the clouds. It took a long time until... Continue Reading →
Glue is an adhesive substance used for sticking objects made of the same or different materials together. Nowadays there are various types of glues used in a large diversity of applications, the most frequently used types are known as PSA ( Pressure-Sensitive Adhesives). Yet the intellectual journey of glue discovery starts with rubber. This belongs... Continue Reading →
Adhesive bonding is one of the oldest method by which materials can be joined to generate assemblies. Besides this, it continues to be used is an alternative to more traditional mechanical methods of joining materials, such as nails, rivets, screws, etc. Use of adhesives is described in ancient Egypt and in the Bible, the early... Continue Reading →
Aerogels are synthetic, porous, ultralight, dry materials (unlike “regular” gels you might think of, which are usually wet like gelatin dessert). The word "aerogel" refers to the fact that aerogels are derived from gels – effectively the solid structure of a wet gel, in which the liquid component has been replaced with air or other... Continue Reading →
In a world where we say we value creativity and give out medals to reward its success, it’s odd that we still use gold, silver and bronze to do so. In a world where we have industrialized so many materials, including those we used to hold sacred, such as gold and diamond, I like to... Continue Reading →
Computer Aided Design & The 118 Elements 