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VagueIncentive
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Blog Entries posted by VagueIncentive
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Altimeters are used by many people in a variety of different situations, such as skydiving, flying, and even hiking. The purpose of an altimeter is to give the user a readout of their current altitude. This can be achieved in many different ways, but the most obvious method is to measure the air pressure. By taking into account the current temperature, one can calculate their current altitude. In early aircraft, this was done with analogue meters, rather than digital calculations. They weren't the most accurate, but still worked very well considering what they were being used for. Now, there are many different kinds of altimeters, but for small scale applications, many analogue altimeters are still being used, but technology allows for much more accurate readings. For hiking, being used with a topographical map, a hiker can determine their location. In skydiving, it's very important to know your altitude, as knowing when to pull the parachute is absolutely paramount. For usage in planes, there have been many different kinds of altimeters, but their general purpose has always been to allow pilots to determine their altitude, which can also be useful for determining if weather patterns are affecting the aircraft. The different kinds of digital meters include sonic and radar altimeters, which show relative altitude, meaning the altitude to the ground rather than sea level altitude. While altimeters are useful, they can only really be used in one way: to determine altitude.
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We use microphones all over the place, and most people have one or more on them at any point in time. Most work on a fairly simple concept, using 2 plates. One of them is much thinner than the other, and acts as the diaphragm, the part that moves as a result of sound. The other one is thicker, and works to make the 2 plates into a capacitor. The sound waves change the distance between the two plates slightly, and therefore changes the capacitance of the system. These changes in capacitance are measured and turned into sound via speakers. Speakers work on a principal that is similar but opposite. Instead of measuring, the diaphragm is moved by varying electric fields in a coil around a magnet. By charging the coil with the right amount of electricity at the right time, it allows for sound waves that mimic what the microphone recorded to be produced. This is a very analog system, meaning it isn't controlled by a system of 1's and 0's being interpreted by a processor, but rather the strength of the charge resulting from sound into the mic. Obviously this can be converted back and forth from digital, but the speaker will always be a very analog type of technology.
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Ever since the earliest days of the car, suspension systems have been in use to keep the ride comfortable. Seeing as how commonplace it is for cars to have good suspension nowadays, we often take for granted just what these systems do to make our daily that much more comfortable. There are many different kinds of suspension, almost every kind involves a sort of spring. The earliest system to be used in cars was a simple spring on the frame connecting to steering frame, allowing for some amount of movement inside the car. Another type of suspension was the "leaf spring" suspension, which consisted of multiple layers of metal beams laid out flat, with the one above it being slightly larger than the one below. This acted as a normal spring physically, but it was able to hold a much larger load, and as such many large trucks and even tanks used this type of suspension. Even today, many different types of heavy vehicles use this type of suspension, which is considerably more complicated to produce than a spring style suspension. The systems used on most modern cars today is a combination of a spring and a "dampener". The spring is what allows for movement of the axle, and the dampener slows down the bouncing. If there is no dampener, then the car would bounce all over the place, since the springs would simply oscillate back and forth. The dampeners slow down the movement, essentially adding a frictional force to the oscillation. This allows for the oscillations to stop very quickly, coming to rest back at the center. The combination of the two components allows for the car to not only mostly keep the interior level across uneven terrain, but also allows for the car's wheels to maintain traction while driving. Another type of suspension is magnetic, which uses electromagnets in replacement of the spring, allowing for control over the height of the suspension. The reason this suspension isn't very common is that it is expensive to implement, and mostly trivial unless you want to raise and lower your car a few inches, for whatever reason. The magnets act the same way the spring does, pushing back as the axle rotates up and down. We often don't think about how well these systems maintain the comfortable ride on our way to work or school.
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Almost every stage production uses a pulley system or some sort of rope system to suspend something. Whether it be a curtain, backdrop, or even an actor, using counter weights to hold something up is an old practice. Ropes are all brought down from the ceiling to a row along the wall, over pulleys. These ropes have a plate with vertical pipes on the bottom, and the weights rest on top of the plate. The other end is attached to a horizontal bar on the stage, which multiple things can be attached to. If the weight equals the weight of the bar and what it's carrying, then the pulley system won't move. The weights won't ever be exact, so a brake system to lock the ropes in place is used to ensure that the bar is held in place.
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Space travel has used many unique forms of propulsion, such as solid fuel rockets, liquid fuel rockets, ionic thrusters, etc. The newest type is still debated as to whether or not it is even possible. The EMDrive seems to break the laws of physics, as it outputs more energy than it takes in. The inventor sent a prototype to NASA to be tested to confirm his claims, and their tests confirmed it. This whole concept has yet to be accepted, as it is such an outlandish thing, but it is currently being put through peer review. The implications of such a technology would make it incredibly easy for space travel, as we could have an essentially unlimited fuel source. This means that we can send out a very small probe with a rather large engine, providing lots of thrust without the need for a large fuel operation to go alongside it. This allows for the probe to accelerate faster, making maneuvers easier and allowing faster space travel overall. It is not yet known how much this would allow us to speed up space travel, but it isn't a "hyperdrive" or "warpdrive" by any means. That doesn't mean it wouldn't be revolutionary for space travel however, because being able to travel without the concern of fuel would expand the world of possibilities for space exploration greatly. But it is still likely just a fluke, and we have yet to figure out exactly why this EMDrive appears to output more than it takes in, seeing as nobody understands quite yet. It has been a topic of debate for 20 years now, and even still there have been no real updates on the situation, so it is highly likely the EMDrive will amount to nothing, but that is stopping nobody from imagining it's possibilities.
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