Energy hunt in the future
Sarabjeet Singh
IF we talk of the world as a whole, then in terms of energy consumption, surely the mankind is living under poverty line! In spite of having so many ways to produce power from both renewable and non-renewable resources we may still not have enough fire to cook food for all.

Tips for building construction
N. R. Goyal
IT is headache for many people to construct even a single or double storeyed building (a house, nursing home, shop or a showroom etc). Generally after getting architectural plans prepared, the construction work is carried out on daily labour basis or labour contract basis. The contractor has skilled masons and labourers but they are not aware of structural considerations for construction. This article can solve the problem of both owners and contractors up to a large extent.

RESPONSE
Save precious steel structures
IT will be unfair if we don’t talk about the age of our steel structures. Even a few societies have come up to assess the life cycle of these structures. In the Tribune dated December 21, 2000 Mr Ved Prakash Takyar has also touched this point while writing on, “fighting the menace of dampness”. He suggested that the joints of pipes of open ducts should be given a waterproofing treatment.

NEW PRODUCTS & DISCOVERIES

• Goodbye Secretary
• Airbags for Airliners
• Used tyres for reducing noise

SCIENCE QUIZ

Energy hunt in the future
Sarabjeet Singh

IF we talk of the world as a whole, then in terms of energy consumption, surely the mankind is living under poverty line! In spite of having so many ways to produce power from both renewable and non-renewable resources we may still not have enough fire to cook food for all.

Moreover, every now and then we are being told that the world’s energy resources are running out! The reason is obvious. We are still like a child who eats less and spills more. World’s first oil well was dug in the USA in 1859 and more than half of world’s total petroleum reserves had already gone up in smoke by the year 1959. If world’s energy consumption keeps on doubling every 10 years, as it has been, even the least accessible reserves of coal and petroleum will be used up soon.

So will the next hundred years see us as a primitive, helpless and demoralised peasants or might we still terraform Mars and Venus? Are science fiction’s high technology futures full of miraculous energy sources, used for anything like propelling spaceships and vaporising planets, all impossible dreams?

Have heart! Scientists in the real world too are overflooded with optimism. Most of energy comes from stars, like our sun and to use it more wisely is the present-day idea and therefore solar-power generation is getting more attention than ever before.

Further, in case of transportation — a good alternative for (polluting) petroleum-hydrogen has started entering the automotive market. Also the nuclear power is already on the way to replacing coal and petroleum burning power plants. Nuclear power will play a dominating role in meeting all our energy demands in immediate future. In fact, nuclear power, if exploited to its full potential, can provide at least “free lunch” to all! Present N-power plants use fission based reactors and one or the other fissionable material would always be available to us for centuries to come.

The next idea in power production method is both romantic and practical! Yes, this is nuclear fusion (A fully operational nuclear fusion power plant is at least 70-80 years away). We would be closely duplicating what happens in sun or stars. Therefore, nuclear fusion is not a science fiction dream but a subject of millions of dollars worth of research every year. Most of the fusion research is being carried out in ‘Tokamaks’ at the Atomic Energy Institute, Moscow. It uses cheap fuel, yields more energy than fission reaction, has less environmental risk and above all, by its very nature, cannot go out of control because it occurs at conditions of high compression and temperatures (temperatures involved are so high that fiercely incandescent materials would melt their way right down into the earth), and any explosion, if at all will automatically stop the reaction! Surely it is the biggest “free lunch” for all that governments yearn to use it. It will ultimately bring us above poverty line.”

Another extremely efficient and extraordinary kind of power producing method is matter-antimatter reaction! It is definitely the only way to obtain “free breakfast, lunch and dinner for all”, but this project is almost impossible in this century as the world’s only antimatter is being made in CERN in Geneva (and a few other places) and that too in submicroscopic amounts (approximately one trillionth of a gram produced so far).

When we look into far future, the possibilities for power generation expand by many orders of magnitude. There are many stupid looking ideas which may be tried in future — at least by amateurs, such as charging gigantic capacitor banks with lightening bolts and even from a giant conductor sent up to Ionosphere. Or we can insert an insulated super conductor up to the core of earth and take out vast heat!

The day when each and every possible method to produce power on earth would have been tried, the earth would cross Phase-I status and therefore the mankind world be called phase-I civilisation or phase-I society!! Yes, one of the first scientist to speculate on the energy consumption of a society was Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev.

He divided the society in three phases. The phase-I society exploits the energy resources of its own planet, including the incident sunlight. And we are the existing phase-I society (to be) in the galaxy.

A phase-II society exploits the energy of its Sun and all neighbouring planets (if any) thus increasing its energy exploitation around 100,000 billion times!!

According to Freeman Dyson, for us to become a phase-II civilisation and to trap all our Sun’s energy, sun would have to be covered with a spherical shell with the same radius as that of the present Earth’s orbit around sun. We would live on the inside surface which is one billion times more than the present Earth’s surface. Jupiter alone is massive enough to make such a shell of 3 m thickness. Such a Dyson sphere which is at least a thousand centuries away for mankind — would mostly radiate infrared radiation from its outer skin and look like a red giant to a superficial observer and according to N. Kardashev “if we are seeking intelligent life elsewhere in the Galaxy we should be careful in observing the objects radiating Infrared”.

A phase-II society would be a leisure society which would do nothing else but enjoy spending limitless energy!! Interstellar communication (and travel) would be as easy as talking to our neighbour today!!

We are too immature (sincerely enough) to explain the full capabilities of a phase-III society which utilises resources of whole galaxy. It did not exist in our own galaxy. If it did, we should know about (it’s signals would be strongest). It’s each little activity would tell us its presence. It would be chewing up stars as casually as we throw another log of wood into the fire. It would be using gamma lasers to explode the old, aging stars....and if need arose it would manipulate two or more blackholes to collide with each other!!

Phase-III society would be the master of “blackhole technology”, it would scan the universe with “tachyonic transmitters” and would be using “wormholes” for instantaneous transportation across intergalactic distances.

But for the time being, with only a small supply of energy we shall be rather chilly stay-at-homes. And also not all of the world’s problems can be solved with ample supply of energy...full bellies and happy children is all we should expect from it. But one thing is for sure. The future is full of adventure and marvels undreamed. No matter we would not be present to see it.

Tips for building construction
N. R. Goyal

IT is headache for many people to construct even a single or double storeyed building (a house, nursing home, shop or a showroom etc). Generally after getting architectural plans prepared, the construction work is carried out on daily labour basis or labour contract basis. The contractor has skilled masons and labourers but they are not aware of structural considerations for construction. This article can solve the problem of both owners and contractors up to a large extent.

First of all the bearing capacity (BC) of soil must be ascertained either by getting it tested from some soil testing laboratory or by knowing the type of soil and level of underground water table e.g. if water table is very low and the soil is clay then it has a very good B.C. If the soil is sand or silty sand then even if the water table is high it has good B.C. So commonly the base of masonry foundation for up to two-storey building should be four bricks wide, placed on a 9” thick bed consisting of PCC (Plain Cement Concrete) 1:8:16 projected 4½” thick on both sides. At DPC level proper DPC consisting of 1½” to 2” thick CC 1:2:4 with two thick layers of hot bitumen preferably 30/40 grade, be provided. Some time in case of low BC a plinth beam of size 9”x6” with nominal reinforcement be provided at DPC level which shall act as DPC and shall take care of minor differential settlement.

Masonry in foundation up to plinth level should be in CM 1:7 and above up to roof level should be in CM 1:6 for double storey and in CM 1:7 in single storey buildings. At door level suitable door lintel should be provided. Generally over the openings upto 4’, door lintel of size 9”x9” with 2 bars of 12 mm diameter at bottom and top with rings of 8 mm diameter bar @ 5” c/c be provided. Over the opening more than 4’, properly designed door lintel be provided. At roof level ½” thick bearing plaster of CM 1:2 be provided to prevent any cracks in walls due to expansion and contraction of slab. Properly designed RCC slab should be provided on steel shuttering with mechanically mixed concrete using vibrator. Curing must be done for 14 days at least. The parapet should be of RCC constructed monolithic with RCC slab to prevent cracks at the junction of slab and parapet which generally appears if the parapets are of brick masonry on RCC slab and give very ugly appearance. The 4½” thick walls should not be made load bearing and should be constructed in rich mortar generally in CM 1:4 and should be suitable reinforce.

Earth filling in floors should be in 9” thick layers and top 4” thick layer should be of pure sand. Floor finish should be provided on 4” thick bed of PCC 1:8:16 preferable mechanically mixed. On roof two layers of 30/40 grade bitumen should be provided and proper slope and cushion should be provided with upto 5” thick good earth under the tile terracing. The tile terracing should be grouted with CM 1:2 and may not be provided with cement pointing. To conclude it is suggested that architect must be insisted upon to provide complete structural design and drawings for economical and safe construction.

RESPONSE
Save precious steel structures

IT will be unfair if we don’t talk about the age of our steel structures. Even a few societies have come up to assess the life cycle of these structures.

In the Tribune dated December 21, 2000 Mr Ved Prakash Takyar has also touched this point while writing on, “fighting the menace of dampness”. He suggested that the joints of pipes of open ducts should be given a waterproofing treatment.

In our opinion it is not only the ducts or pipe joints which need attention but also all the steel structures which are submerged underground, whether these are steel pipes, steel trusses in bridges, electricity poles or dams should be protected against corrosion. The protection of these structures against corrosion will increase their life. There is a standard proverb — steel steels the economy if properly protected otherwise “steel steals the economy”.

India is passing through a phase when the economy of the country is to be built by increasing the life of the steel structures such as bridges, dams, submerged water pipes, electrical installations or even skyscrapers where steel is abundantly used.

In nutshell the corrosion in steel pipes, oil storage tanks; structures embedded under the ground or exposed to atmosphere can be arrested by using cathodic protection method. We have done some work in the laboratory and found that the results were quite encouraging. In our opinion the life of these structures can be enhanced by proper cathodic protection. If this slow decay is allowed to continue, the life of these structures will be reduced tremendously and their replacement will require huge amount of money which in turn will effect the economy of the country.

Dr J.D. Sharma and P.N. Garga Chandigarh

NEW PRODUCTS & DISCOVERIES

Goodbye Secretary

This video phone is certainly likely to soothe the headache of business communications — the only things it will not do are make coffee and tell little white lies! NF

Airbags for Airliners

To prevent injuries during aircraft crashes and accidents, especially those on take off and landing, engineers have developed an air bag that deploys from a seat belt.

The system, developed by engineers at AmSafe Inc., New Jersey, activates as soon as the seat belt is buckled and then monitors true acceleration sensors every 2 msec.

If deceleration levels indicate an impending accident and not a routine stop or non-threatening turbulence, the air bag deploys. It inflates away from the passenger, making it safe for all people regardless of weight or size, according to a report in Machine Design.

The main components of the batterypowered system reside beneath the seat. The system is independent of aircraft power and the battery will last five years in constant operation.

A safing switch lets technicians disarm the air bag for servicing, and a test wand gives them a way to check the system’s battery and circuitry. PTI

Used tyres for reducing noise

Scientists have come up with a new process to recycle tyres and bumpers from scrapped cars and use them in reducing traffic noise.

In the process, the polymer bumpers are shredded into a small gritty substance that is bonded into a matrix of porous material and used to deaden traffic noise, to sound proof buildings and improve acoustic control.

The tyres are granulated and combined with polyurethane for a variety of uses such as noise reduction in vehicles and road barriers. “This is a win-win scenario,” said Dr Kirill Horoshenkov of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Bradford University, northern England. Polymers used specifically for the purpose cost high whereas many scrap polymers carry negative value. “In addition, we are helping to get rid of plastic that is so difficult to dispose of in other ways. Recycled in an environmentally friendly fashion it can reduce noise pollution and helps to improve the quality of life,” Kirill said.

The process has been developed as part of a noise-control project launched by researchers in the United Kingdom, in collaboration with partners in the Czech Republic and Japan. PTI

SCIENCE QUIZ

J. P. GARG TESTS YOUR IQ

10. Forests are a vast source of many natural products and help maintain the ecological balance to a great extent. To focus attention on the importance of forests, World Forestry Day is observed every year. On which date?

Answers

1. William Gilbert 2. Near (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous); 433 Eros 3. These are varieties of rose flower 4. Photodynamic Therapy 5. Both are made of carbon but the structure of carbon atom linkages in the two is different 6. Aerodynamics 7. Autoclave 8. Carbon, hydrogen, fluorine and often chlorine 9. AbioCor 10. March 21.