The tiny thing called the sun

       When it was not known that the sun was not the only star in the universe it was regarded as god as the sole sustainer of life on earth. However as astronomy advanced with the development of better telescopes it was discovered that the sun was just another star that is nearest to the earth. There are quadrillions of other stars in the universe many of whom are much larger than our sun

       This stars are basically composed of Hydrogen atoms in plasma state of matter . At the core of the sun  the temperature exceeds 1 million degree centigrade , this temperature is ideal for initiation of a thermonuclear fusion reaction in which two hydrogen nuclei fuse to form a helium nucleus . The mass of this helium nucleus is slightly less than than the combined mass of the two hydrogen nuclei . The disappeared mass is actually converted into energy, the amount of energy is given by the equation (E=mXcXc) . Thus the equation indicates that a massive amount of energy is released this energy is transferred across the solar system in the form of electromagnetic radiation. The same phenomenon goes on in all other stars.

       In terms of volume the sun is more than a million times larger than the earth and in terms of weight the sun is more than 1,00,000 times heavier than the earth. But in the universe there are stars that have a radius that is more than 1500 times that of the sun. Which makes them 3.3 million times larger and more massive than the sun. Every galaxy in the universe has a super massive blackhole at the centre. There are super massive black holes that are 17 billion times more massive than the sun. The stars and other planetary bodies encircle this black hole and revolve around it.

      Just a few days ago NASA shared photograph of a Pulsar that is radiating electromagnetic energy at the rate of 10 million suns a second. While a supernovae which is an exploding star can radiate an amount of energy that is equivalent to what the Sun or any other ordinary star radiates in its entire lifetime before is fades away in a few weeks or few months . 

      So in terms of size and the amount of energy radiated  there are stellar bodies in the universe in front of which our sun appears to be a microsome. 

    

Space

"Space the final frontier" the famous beginning line of long running TV soap Star Trek tells us about the ultimate ambition of humankind. Ever since humans existed on the face of earth they wondered what is up there in the sky? What are those twinkling stars ? Why there are some stars that don't twinkle at all? Why does the sun travel across the sky ? and what is there beyond the sky? There were myths and legends in ancient times the sun , moon and stars were called gods in different cultures. Some races called themselves decedents of sun. Some called themselves decedents of moons. Some planet was called the the god of war and another planet was called the goddess of love. The periodic partial and full view of the moon that humans got to see because of the shadow of the earth falling on the moon while the moon was rotating around the earth made some cultures think that the moon was swallowed up by some demon , or some curse from a sage makes it shirk and then regain its shape. Some believed that the position of the stars in the sky determines the future of people .

         This continued for centuries later on ancient astronomers from India, China ,Europe  made different observations of the motions of stars and planets made some calculations about the orbital periods of various planets that can be observed from the naked eye. But the major change came with the invention of telescope by Galileo and the subsequent improvements made in its design, humans started knowing more facts about the universe. They discovered Milky Way as a Galaxy and later on discovered that there are billions of galaxies in the observable universe.

     The General Theory of Relativity helped to explain various phenomenons in the universe that could not be explained by Newtonian theory of Gravity. As humans knew more and more about the universe the desire to visit moon and other planets in solar system grew. Rocket technology has been there since a long time mostly used in war it was also used in World War and there was lot of improvement done in rocket technology between World War 1 and World War 2 , while it was for military purposes then, after the world war the focus began shifting on peaceful uses of rocket technology .The Russians and Americans started working on space technology and developed rockets that were powerful enough the send satellites that would orbit around earth and use it for the purpose of communication. The following years showed rapid development in rocket technology. 

         In the Cold War era there was a race between USA and USSR for space dominance . The USSR became the first nation to launch a satellite and then put a man in space. The following years saw great competition between USA and USSR both countries launched satellites and sent orbiters and probes to different planets including the Moon. The space race ended with the Apollo mission in which man for the first time set his foot on moon. 

    As for India its space journey began with the launch of Aryabhatta the first Indian satellite launched from USSR. So India was actually one of the early entrants into the space age. At that time it was unthinkable for a developing nation to get into space race . Eventually India developed its own satellite launch vehicle the first was SLV that launched Rohini series of satellites with 50% success rate. Followed by ASLV for heavier satellites weighing upto 150 kilos ASLV had a success rate of 25%. Then came PSLV only the first launch was a faliure after that next 26 launches were success however in 1997 the launch was only a partial success since the fourth stage underperformed and the satellite was set to a lower than expected orbit. However the satellites own propulsion was used to get it into the correct orbit. So one can consider that PSLV has a success rate of 96%. 

        The biggest success of PSLV is surely the success in launching Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan .Chandrayaan detected water in form of solid ice present on lunar poles ,  ISRO became only the fourth space agency in the world to successfully launch an orbiter into Mars. India was the first country to have its mars mission as a success. The Mars Orbiter Mission(MOM) cost only $ 74 million a fraction of other Mars missions. 

      Space research is an expensive business with no immediate returns so if other space agencies collaborate with ISRO they will save on costs. They will achieve more for the same amount of money. 

      At the moment only Voyger 1 has gone beyond the solar system. The universe is so vast that the star that is nearest to our solar system is 4.2 light years away. To send space probes to distant stars we would require engines that can travel almost at the speed of light or find some regions in space with wormhole that would help it go directly to a desired location in space.

     

     

     

         

INVOLEX a new promising wind energy technology

In this blog I have written a lot about renewable energy technology and tremendous work is happening in this field. Today I am going to write about a latest wind energy technology that uses concentrated wind power to generate electricity. INVELOX  as you can see in the diagram the the wind from various inlets enter the tower and then moves down . The tower is designed in such a way that it tapers down as the wind moves forward .

      Because reduction in the area of the tube as per Venturi effect the speed of the wind increases, that why INVELOX has a high cut in velocity of 2 miles/hr or 3.2 kms/hr. The turbine which is located at the bottom of tower as seen in the diagram experiences windspeed that are 4 times more than the speed at which the wind entered the tower.

       The setup is pretty simple , the inventors claim that the cost of generation of electricity is less than 2 cents per kilowatt .

       Since it is a concentrated wind energy system , it can be used in areas that have low wind speeds unlike traditional wind turbines which requires places with high wind speeds . Traditional wind turbines need to be aligned to the direction of wind but when it comes to INVELOX the direction of the wind doesn't matter at all. As you can see in the below picture and diagram the inlet at the top of the tower allows wind to enter from any direction. 

      

       

The cost of setting up an INVELOX tower is said to be less than that of a traditional wind turbine. This technology  can compete with thermal power plants and other non renewable sources of energy in terms of cost of energy. One of the main roadblocks in adoption of renewable energy is the cost of energy is higher than that of conventional energy. However this technology at par with conventional sources of energy in terms of cost, it causes no pollution whatsoever and can generate electricity at moderate wind speeds as well.

Universe and Us

I find it difficult to accept that humans and apes have evolved from a common primate ancestor . There is so much difference between a human and a chip, gorilla or a orangutan.

    First look at the physical features. The apes have fur or body hair while humans don't have any or very little. Herein comes the question why humans did not have fur even during the ice age. It is true that the fossils of human beings found during the ice age show no fur at all. Now if humans had indeed evolved from primates we should have had fur like gorillas and chimps . The fur would have helped humans immensely during the ice age . Again even today major part of human civilization lives in cold countries. Where having fur would have been advantageous. So why human beings don't have fur.

     There is one possibility that we maybe a cross between some alien civilization and a primate. Look at our mental functions they are far far more advanced than the monkeys. We think, we plan , we make tools , we do research and we have a vast amount of knowledge. We can communicate with each other by voice. This characteristics are not shared with any other animal on the planet.

        The fact that humans have such highly developed brains gives credence to the possibility that we are but cross between aliens and some primate here on earth or we may be product of some alien experimentation done on earth .

      Even when skulls of other primates and humans are observed it is found that the human skull is vastly different from apes , gorillas and chimpanzees. In South America there are huge figures etched on grounds thousands of years ago that resemble birds and different geometric structure. They are so huge that they can only be seen from a great height . Now the precision with which the drawings are made indicates that when these drawings were made there was someone guiding the people on the ground from a great height. Also why would the Ancient Man would need such drawings what purpose would it serve? It is very much possible that the drawings were made as guides to the ancient aircrafts to land here on earth. 

        All around the earth there have been reports of alien aircrafts  better known as Unidentified Flying Objects(UFOs) being seen by people . If you search in youtube you will find hundreds of videos claiming to be genuine videos of UFOs while many of them maybe fake but one thing is for sure there is no smoke without fire. Even in ancient times there are records of sightings of strange things in the sky ---of chariots( maybe mistaken for spacecrafts) descending to earth. Not only that ancient texts of many countries actually claim that these aliens have interacted and guided people. Especially in South America. 


         While there is very little doubt that intelligent life exists outside earth , the universe being so vast that if life can come into existence on earth , then it can exist at some other planet or place in the Universe. The life forms in that planet maybe adapted to live in conditions of that particular planet. Some of them maybe highly advanced in knowledge, so much that we maybe primitive in front of them. 

        The Universe is vast, the universe is full of mysteries and search of our origin and search of extra terrestial life will continue till we know the truth. 



       

Android and Free Software

Google's Android operating system has had tremendous success in the last few years , there are now over a a billion active devices that use Android Operating System. The success of Android has been wonderful for Free and Open Source software although Android is not totally FREE, some of the device drivers are proprietary . However it is big step into moving towards the free software regime.

We have come to a time when smart phones have become as powerful as computers that existed a decade ago. For ordinary users who are not developers or coders , whose computing needs are limited to surfing the Internet and creating a few documents, watching videos , capturing videos and taking pictures, smart phones and tablets are more than enough. Smart phones and tablets are cheaper and easier to carry around.

Android now is the most popular Operating System for smart phones and tablets. The Android can be considered a version of Linux considering the fact that it uses a modified version of the Linux Kernel. The source code of Android is available to users after the release.

However its runs on select devices and does not come with the code of the device drivers of certain components that are proprietary. One can download Android from the website free of cost, Google makes money from Android by selling apps made by developers on Google Play store. Not all apps are priced but for those apps that have a price tag to it, Google takes 30% of the amount.

      While Android is enjoying its day in the sun very soon it will have competition from the likes of Ubuntu touch, Tizen, Firefox OS and Jolla SailFish . Firefox OS maybe the real FREE software(free in terms of freedom ) that Android may have to contain with. The beneficiary of this competition will be the users around the globe .

One can clearly see that smart phones and tablets are converging towards desktops, as the processing power goes up and the RAM and storage increase. So in the future one may be using GNU/LINUX or the GNU operating system (with the HURD kernal ) directly from his/her tablet or smart phone.

Currently Google recommends 512Mb of RAM for Android operating system, in 2004 that is 10 years ago desktops used to have 256Mb of RAM , we have quadracore and octacore ARM processors  with over 1Ghz of clock speed. So it is clear from this that mobile devices are closing in on laptops and desktops.



Also android is the operating system of Google Glass the gadget that promises to change the way we use mobiles and computers. One can visit Google Play and find huge number of apps as on June 2014 one can find 1.2 million apps there, both paid and free.



With tablets and smart phones that run on Android or will run in the near future in any one of the above mentioned Free operating systems , the digital world is now successfully coming out of slavery of Microsoft Windows. 

For two and half decades the users were not being able to use any other operating system other than Microsoft Windows and before that MS – Dos. GNU/LINUX was then considered to be only for Geeks and not for ordinary users.



Its wonderful to see that with Android the world has taken a big step towards usage of Free Software and the above mentioned operating systems particularly Firefox OS will have more freedom associated with it , in real terms it can be called a Free Software. Bringing the the vision Free Software Foundation to reality. 
         
[Note when Free Software is mentioned it means software that is free in terms of freedom not necessarily free in terms of price.]

High Efficiency Solar cells _ Semprius

      The above solar panel by Semprius has an efficiency of about 43.9% the Semprius solar cells are multi junction solar cells ie four cells stacked one over the other each one absorbs the different band of light frequency. This is the reason why such a high efficiency of close to 50% has been achieved , however the four junction solar cells are expensive but semprius has got around this problem by concentrating the sunlight on the by as much as 1100 suns. Each cell is said to be as small as the tip of a pencil. This also reduces the the amount of cells needed by a factor of 1100.

           The combination of such high efficiency cells with high level of sunlight concentration will drive down the costs of solar electricity by a huge amount in the next few years ,as shown in the picture above the concentrator glasses are inexpensive certainly  cost much less than solar cells. So one can imagine even if these multijunction cells are even 20 times more expensive than conventional solar cells, the fact that the solar energy is concentrated by a factor of 1100 makes the cost of solar panel at least 30 to 40 times cheaper even if the price of the concentrator glass array ,tracker and the control system(that keeps it aligned with the direction of the sun)  is taken into account . 

          Hopefully in the near future such panels are on every terrace in countries with high sunshine like India. This would save usage of fossil fuel worth billions of dollars , also when electricity becomes so cheap use of electric cars ,electric motorcycles and electric scooters will increase thus oil and natural gas worth billions of dollars need not be imported and it would reduce pollution.

If every vehicle in India runs on electricity generated from the sun India will become rich. Every year the amount of money India spends on importing petroleum is $ 160 bn this bill would be reduced by a big amount . Again the amount of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases produced by the combustion of such fuels will reduce significantly thus lowering pollution.

The total electricity production in India last year was 1102 Tera Watt hours approximately Rs 500000 cr worth electricity. Using solar panels like these we can reduce the the need of coal and natural gas fired power stations thus saving the nation billions of dollars worth money.

In large parts of India especially rural and the semi urban areas the quality of electricity is either very bad or there is no electricity at all  in spite of having the perennial source of energy --sun almost 365 days every year , every year the world is blessed with trillions of dollars worth energy from the sun , only now we are learning to tap into this infinite source of energy in an economical fashion and looking into the future solar energy will be far more cheaper than fossil fuel powered energy. The fossil fuel powered energy was simply an intermediate stage ultimately man will use sun to get all the energy he needs .

         

        

Some Renewable Energy Innovations

The renewable energy technology world  today is blooming with new innovations , we have just come across two solar power innovations Rawlemon and Solar Roadways.

Rawlemon betaray is a large glass sphere which essentially collects the rays of sun falling on it and concentrates it on a solar cell by a factor of 500 suns thus generating electrical energy and heat energy also it is found to be 70% more efficient than conventional solar cells that are not concentrated. The beauty of rawlemon system is that it can generate electricity even in very cloudy conditions and even from moonlight. The real cost of solar energy comes from the PV modules now when solar energy is concentrated the amount of solar cells required comes down significantly saving on costs thus the cost of energy obtained from such solar systems is much lower. A betaray can be installed on rooftops or on walls.You can get more information about Rawlemon from the following link https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rawlemon-solar-devices

The next video doing round these days is of solar roadways , the inventors have designed intelligent microprocessor controlled solar cells that can replace roads. The solar cells will generate electricity and these panels have LED lamps that glows giving a better view of road to the driver. Also in cold countries they would prevent the roads from getting clogged in snow. Parks, parking alleys , tennis courts, basketball courts can have these panels on the surface. Since the panels are touch sensitive it would warn motorists of the obstacles ahead.

Next of course we have come across various modes of tidal energy whether it is pumping seawater to a height using ocean waves as in  in searaser or using underwater currents to generating electricity. Tidal energy is abundant on earth and is a promising future source of energy.

 Searaser uses the vertical displacement of ocean currents to make a pump move up and down thus pumping water now this water is collected in a reservoir that is located at a high altitude the collected water can be allowed to flow down and at a point where the stream acquires maximum energy one can place a turbine that would rotate and generate electricity.

When it comes to wind energy a new innovation has come from a MIT company named Alteros , they have come out with a system that has a helium shell that would take the wind turbine located in the centre to rise up to a height of 1000ft at that hight the wind speed is much more and much more consistent , it is called Buyont Air Turbine , a BAT can generate twice the energy of a tower mounted Wind Turbine. It is designed to withstand very high wind speed and in case of storm it can auto dock itself.

Traditional wind turbines can only be set up at places with consistent and high wind speeds not all places on earth have these characteristics, however with BAT its possible to generate electricity almost anywhere in the world.

      There are many more innovations researchers are working on lots of different ways to tap different motions in nature to generate electricity , the above are just few of the . The future of energy is definitely renewable and green. It makes sense to tap into unlimited sources of renewable energy than burn limited fossil fuel for energy requirements which generates CO2 and other gases which are even more harmful and have a bad effect on the environment.