moritz.zoechling

The European Organization for Nuclear Research known as CERN was founded in 1952. Since then more than 80 countries have been contributing to the research done in the particle accelerator and trillions of dollars have been invested. Many argue that the money spent could have been invested in humane projects rather than spending it on research of tiny particles in huge machines under the ground that go through multiple countries. But most of us don’t know the great benefits the research provided us in the past years which greatly justifies this investment. The research provided the discovery of cancer therapies, monitoring nuclear waste, helps to save tons of electricity in power transmission, the discovery of the MRI, and the greatest of all a better understanding how our Universe works.

New Aluminum Battery Could Recharge Your Phone in Just One Minute The next generation of batteries is here! An ultrafast rechargeable battery that’s also cheap and long-lasting. And since the new material it is made of is aluminum, the new battery is a safer alternative to conventional lithium-ion and alkaline batteries we are using all around the world today. For decades, Scientists have tried to use aluminum as material for batteries. The great benefits of aluminum over conventional lithium-ion and alkaline batteries that we are using today are that aluminum is cheap, bendy, and has low flammability and high-charge storage capacity. So far all attempts to develop a commercially viable aluminum-ion battery have been unsuccessful. But now for the first time in history, an international team led by Stanford’s Hongjie Dai have accidentally discovered a simple solution. I’m not a Scientist, but if you are really interested in the procedure, I would highly recommend you to check out this article (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature14340.html#figures). The battery is also ultra-fast charging and crazy durable. Unlike the hours some of us might spend charging our phones every night, the prototype of the aluminum battery has a charge time of one minute! And not just that but what most of us don’t know is that the batteries for example in an iphone 6 are made to last for about 500 to 700 cycles, were the international team of scientists says that their new battery is able to do more than 7,500 charge-discharge cycles without losing its capacity. Unfortunately, the technology is still not completely developed and won’t be on the marked any time soon. One battery generates about two volts of electricity. While that’s more than any other aluminum prototype thus far, that’s only about half the voltage of a typical lithium battery. That doesn’t mean that it won’t come at some point though but it will take a little more research over the next years and then there should be nothing to stop the new era of batteries that are not just faster but also better for our environment. Also the scientists are confident in their next steps “Improving the cathode material could eventually increase the voltage and energy density,†Dai explains. “Otherwise, our battery has everything else you'd dream that a battery should have: inexpensive electrodes, good safety, high-speed charging, flexibility, and long cycle life. I see this as a new battery in its early days.†If you want to know more check out this video:

Hi everyone! Did you ever do one of those “do it yourself†home experiments..? Well I didn’t… so far until I saw that cool video on Facebook yesterday. You really don’t need a whole lot of stuff and it is super easy and fast to do. With a couple of simple ingredients that you can find at home you can make your own cloud! Check out this short video that teaches you step by step how it works. What’s going to happen is the water vapor inside the bottle, is quickly condensing which creates a cloud. Pretty cool experiment, give it a try!

Hey guys! Over spring break we drove to Disneyworld in Florida. The car ride was unbelievable long so we decided to stop at a few places. One of the stops was the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. For the first time in my life I saw a real rocket last week, which has been a dream of mine since I was little. One of the things I always wondered was how rocket engines work and what makes them so unbelievable strong..? Like most engines, rockets burn fuel. Most rocket engines turn the fuel into hot gas. The engine pushes the gas out its back. The gas makes the rocket move forward. Rockets work by a law that we have all learned a couple months ago; Newton's third law of. If you remember it, it says if Object 1 exerts a force on Object 2, then Object 2 must exert a force back on Object 1. Moreover, the force of Object 1 on Object 2 is equal in magnitude, or size, but opposite in direction to the force of Object 2 on Object 1. In other words, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The rocket pushes on its exhaust. The exhaust pushes the rocket, too. The rocket pushes the exhaust backward. The exhaust makes the rocket move forward. Actually quite a simple concept.

Hi everyone! I’m sure you have all learned or at least heard about the interior structure of the Earth and its different layers. The principle is easy to understand; the interior structure of the Earth is layered in spherical shells, like an onion. We know about the crust under the oceans and continents, the mantle that goes on for 2,900 kilometers and the iron core. Basically something we have all heard in junior high before. Now, Earth’s got a new layer. By crushing minerals between anvils made of diamonds, researchers have discovered that the top part of the lower mantle contains an incredibly stiff layer of rock. The findings were published in Nature Geoscience this week. http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v7/n11/full/ngeo2271.html#access

Since 3 years I’m playing rugby for the RC Danube Junior Pirates in an international league. This following summer we’ll play against a team from South Africa and France and I’m already really excited! I am currently playing 1st row tight head prop which would be a forward in soccer. Every time somebody makes a mistake or brakes the rules a scrum is utilized. In the position I’m playing I am in the first row for the scrum which happens pretty often. For most of you who have never heard about a scrum (short for scrummage); it is a method of restarting play in rugby that involves players packing closely together with their heads down and attempting to gain possession of the ball. With all that said there is a ton of physics involved! The shoes that are rubbed into the grass are giving me a good grip because of the resistance the dirt is providing. Every player gets pulled down by gravity and is only able to maintain in this position because they lean against the opposite team. Which team then has the grater inertia and stronger players will push the other team away and gains possession of the ball. A year ago I would have never thought that there is so much physics even in a rugby game

The principles which allow a Formula 1 car to move are the same that cause an aircraft to fly. The only difference being the wing or airfoil shape is that the airfoil shape will create an upside down producing downforce instead of lift. The Bernoulli Effect means that: if a fluid (gas or liquid) flows around an object at different speeds, the slower moving fluid will exert more pressure than the faster moving fluid on the object. You have probably all heard about that before or seen it on a physics show on the TV, explained in a simpler form. So then the object will be forced toward the faster moving fluid. The wing of an airplane is shaped so that the air moving over the top of the wing moves faster than the air beneath it. Since the air pressure under the wing is greater than that above the wing, lift is produced. The shape of the f1 car uses the same principle. The shape of the chasis is similar to an upside down airfoil. The air moving under the car moves faster than that above it, creating downforce or negative lift on the car. Airfoils or wings are also used in the front and rear of the car in an effort to generate more downforce. Downforce is necessary in maintaining high speeds through the corners and forces the car to the track. Light planes can take off at slower speeds than a ground effects race car can generate on the track. In addition the shape of the underbody (an inverted wing) creates an area of low pressure between the bottom of the car and the racing surface. This sucks the car to road which results in higher cornering speeds which is very important as they are traveling at 200mph. In the last couple years it became really important to have excellent aerodynamics in order to have a chance to compete. Teams that plan on staying competitive use track testing and wind tunnels to develop the most efficient aerodynamic design. Here are also two videos which explain it again. Once by an expert and in the second video by Niko Roseberg, a german f1 race car driver is explaining how the aerodynamics on f1 race cars work.

Are you tired of being trapped inside all day during the winter? Sledding and building snowmen gets boring? Well than I have some replay good experiments for you for these cold winter days! 1) Turn Boiling Water Into Ice In The Blink Of An Eye In the last couple weeks, it became a sensation to throw boiling water out into the freezing air and watch the water freeze before it even hits the ground. How is this possible? First of all, the air needs to be extremely cold and dry in order for this to be successful, around -30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit) which we almost had this week in Rochester. This alters the density of the air, which doesn’t allow it to hold much moisture. The boiling water, on the other hand, eagerly offers up water vapor. Throwing the water into the air exponentially increases the surface area, allowing more water vapor to escape. The air can’t hold this moisture, so the vapor is quickly cooled and condensed. The water sticks to particles in the air to form the nucleus of a snowflake as it freezes. 2) Frozen Bubbles Blowing bubbles is always a good time, and they get to be even more fun when they are frozen! Head outside to blow your bubble and watch the fractals cover the surface as the bubble freezes. If they freeze in the air, they’ll break as soon as they land. To marvel at your bubbles for even longer, blow them close to the snow, and allow them to freeze on the ground. You can use pre-made bubble solution or make your own by mixing one part water with four parts soap (dish soap works very well, though shampoo could also be used). If you want to make the bubbles more durable, add in a small amount of glycerin or light corn syrup. Creating tougher bubbles will improve your chances of getting to pick the bubble up and getting a closer look after it is frozen. 3) Inflating Balloons This is a fun exercise in exploring the relationship between the volume and temperature of a gas. Inflate a balloon inside your home (which is hopefully considerably warmer than the outdoors) and tie off the end. Take the balloon outside, and watch the balloon slowly deflate as the gas becomes colder. Bringing the balloon back inside and allowing the gas to become re-heated to its original temperature will re-inflate the balloon. This phenomenon is due to Charles’ Law, which describes the relationship between the volume and temperature of a gas. As the temperature of the gas inside the balloon decreases from the frigid air, the volume also decreases in order to maintain the pressure of the gas. As the volume of the gas shrinks and becomes more dense, it doesn’t put as much pressure on the sides of the balloon, causing it to deflate. Once the balloon is back indoors, the temperature of the gas will increase, which increases the volume of the gas, and then pushes and stretches the balloon. Though the container and pressure of the gas inside never changed, you are able to manipulate the volume by changing the temperature. To make this activity even more fun for kids, you can draw on the balloon to see how much the picture changes as the balloon deflates. You could also try inflating the balloon outside (though good luck tying it off with cold fingers!) and bringing it inside to see how much bigger it can get before it pops.

PARIS—Masked gunmen stormed the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, killing a dozen people and decimating a newsroom that long took pride in defying the outrage—and death threats—stirred by its caricatures lampooning Islam. The brutal rampage shocked a nation that has been living in dread of reprisal attacks since joining the fight against Islamist insurgents in Africa and the Middle East. The attack—by gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles—triggered an outpouring of public anger at home and expressions of solidarity from around the world. I think you have all heard of this dramatic event that happened this week. All around the world People are shocked and in a lot of drawings were posted in response. This one below is in my opinion one of the strongest statements. It shows a wall were the French National Motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, French for "Liberty, equality, fraternity", is written on a wall and the word Liberty is shot through with bullets as a symbol of the attack against the freedom of press. That’s where the physics now comes in: If there are 17 bullet-holes in the wall and the gun shoots each 10gram Bullet with 250m/s in a total time of 4sec. Determine the Frequency of the gun, the Kinetic Energy of a bullet right before it hits the wall and the approximate distance the shooter stood away from the wall. (Neglect air-residence) Answer: Let’s start with the Kinetic Energy of the bullet. To solve this Question you can use the formula (1/2)mv2 which if you substitute with units equals 312.5 Joules Frequency is the number of revolutions that occur in a second; so in this case we would have 4.25 Hz To find out the distance the shooter stood away from the wall you should know, once the bulled is fired there will be no horizontal acceleration which will help us in the formula to finde the distance. But first we have to solve for the time it takes one bullet to get from the gun to the wall. As we know that 17 bullets were fired in 4seconds we simply have to divide the time it took all of them by the number of Bullets and then we get .24sec. for each Bullet. Now that we know that we can substitute in the formula d=vit+(1/2)at2 and as I already mentioned a=0 which makes the equation even shorter so it really only is d=vit which gives us a distance of 59m. For anyone who is more interested in the whole story there is a link to the Guardian where there is a live report about the event. http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/jan/08/charlie-hebdo-attack-manhunt-suspects-al-qaida

Finally the winter is here and the skiing season starts! My slalom-skis arrived today from Austria and I'm really excited . The special thing about them which is also the reason why I'm so excited is that they have a computer chip inside which supports the KERS Technology (KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM) How does that work? KERS Technology works like a turbo charger that provides additional power and acceleration by stiffening the tail of the ski in outturns. The effect: a boost, catapulting the rider into the next turn. Just like when Formula 1 pilots push a button for that extra notch of speed. HEAD KERS Technology is an electronic, fully automatic and integrated system. HOW IT WORKS Skis experience maximum flex at the end of a turn. At this moment the energy is released into the fibers of the tail. The tail of the ski then stiffens up, immediately increasing rebound for maximum acceleration at the end of the outturn. TECHNICAL BACKGROUND HEAD KERS Technology is an evolution of the idea behind HEAD’s Intelligence Technology. In addition KERS does not influence the torsional stiffness of the ski, KERS empowers the skis’ longitudinal flex. Also KERS Technology is based on a completely new design capable of accumulating power and keeping it in store for the right moment.
 Piezoelectric fibers transform kinetic energy into electrical energy which is stored. Electrical energy is immediately released to areas of the ski, where additional energy is requested. Timing and release are automatically controlled and coordinated. Depending on the flex pattern of different ski models, sensors are programmed beforehand: the more aggressive the ski has to be, the stiffer the tail will become. Here are two links that will also explain this again. Can't wait wait to go skiing!!!

Good Morning everyone, We all know that the earth is not flat and most of us also know that it more has the form of an egg than an actual ball. That causes that so some areas are further away from the center of the earth which causes less gravitational force. That means if you are on top of the Mount Everest your Fg will be a little bit smaller than in a submarine on the bottom of the seas. The reason for that is the equation for force due gravity: Fg=(Gm1m2)/r2 and as r gets greater the force will get smaller. That means as further you get away from the center of the earth as smaller the gravitational force will be.

That's an impressive blog post!

Sounds like a lot of fun!

Poor you! Hopefully that won't happen anymore

Good luck for your driving license test!