News tagged with wave energy

Mechanical motion rectifier leads to better energy harvesting

(Phys.org) -- Mechanical energy is all around us, whether in the form of a vehicle's vibrations, ocean waves, or vibrating train tracks. However, much of this energy is irregular and oscillatory - for example, road bumps ...

Technology / Engineering

created Apr 25, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 26 | with audio podcast report

Physicists demonstrate 100-fold speed increase in optical quantum memory

(PhysOrg.com) -- As with today's computers, future quantum computers will require more than just quantum information processing; they will also require methods to store and retrieve the quantum information. ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Apr 01, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (31) | comments 0 | with audio podcast feature

Could Exotic Matter Provide an Infinite Source of Energy?

(PhysOrg.com) -- Generally, scientists prefer to avoid the concept of perpetual motion. The idea of a machine that could produce movement that goes on forever, and using that movement to generate an endless ...

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 15, 2009 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (35) | comments 63 feature

The Physics of Pizza Tossing

(PhysOrg.com) -- As dough flies through the air, transforming from a ball into a disk in the chef’s experienced hands, pizza tossing can definitely be thought of as an art. But, as a recent study shows, pizza ...

Physics / General Physics

created Apr 09, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (14) | comments 6 feature

Folding light: Wrinkles and twists boost power from solar panels

Taking their cue from the humble leaf, researchers have used microscopic folds on the surface of photovoltaic material to significantly increase the power output of flexible, low-cost solar cells.

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Apr 27, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (15) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

When dark energy turned on (Update)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Some six billion light years distant, almost halfway from now back to the big bang, the universe was undergoing an elemental change. Held back until then by the mutual gravitational attraction ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Mar 30, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (19) | comments 67 | with audio podcast

Theoretical physicists offer explanation of how bacteria might generate radio waves

(PhysOrg.com) -- Four theoretical physicists, led by Allan Widom, of Northeastern University, have published a paper in arXiv, where they show a possible way for some bacteria to produce radio waves. Taking ...

Physics / General Physics

created Apr 28, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (13) | comments 13 | with audio podcast report

A breakthrough for terahertz semiconductor lasers

(PhysOrg.com) -- Potential applications, says an engineering professor, include disease diagnosis and detection of concealed explosives.

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 13, 2011 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (11) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

World's biggest Wave Hub installed off UK coast

(PhysOrg.com) -- A wave energy generation test site called the "Wave Hub" is being set up off Cornwall’s northern coast. The site is the first offshore wave energy site in the UK, and will allow four wave ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Sep 08, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0 report

Radio astronomers develop new technique for studying dark energy

Pioneering observations with the National Science Foundation's giant Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) have given astronomers a new tool for mapping large cosmic structures. The new tool promises to ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jul 21, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (13) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Probing the dark side of the universe

Advancing into the next frontier in astrophysics and cosmology depends on our ability to detect the presence of a particular type of wave in space, a primordial gravitational wave. Much like ripples moving ...

Physics / General Physics

created May 20, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (15) | comments 99 | with audio podcast

New way to extract light from semiconductors could lead to ultra-high efficiency LEDs

(PhysOrg.com) -- By fabricating ridges coated with silicon dioxide (SiO2) on the surface of a semiconductor, scientists from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created May 14, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (25) | comments 8 | with audio podcast report

Sound could save circuits: Researchers theorize acoustic waves may cool microelectronics

(PhysOrg.com) -- "Hot sounds" has one meaning to music fans and another to physicists. Count a team of researchers at Rice University among the latter, as they've discovered that acoustic waves traveling along ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Apr 28, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (14) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

A Theory of Dark Matter

Among the most astounding, unexpected, and important achievements of the past century (or even more) have been the discoveries of dark matter and dark energy, collectively dubbed the "dark sector."

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 08, 2009 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (45) | comments 58

Shaking the Fundamentals of Physics: At the Limits of the Photoelectric Effect

With extremely short wavelengths and very high intensities, light-matter interaction seems to be different than previously accepted.

Physics / General Physics

created Apr 24, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (24) | comments 9